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ADDRESS 


To  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  WHO  ARE  OPPOSED  TO  THE 
PRINCIPLES  AND  POLICY  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ADMINISTRATION,  AND 
IN  FAVOR  OF  THE  ELECTION  OF  A  CHIEF  MAGISTRATE  OF  THE  UNION, 
IN  I860,  WHO  WILL  INAUGURATE  A  TRULY  AMERICAN  PtEPUBLICAN 
SYSTEM  IN  THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

BY  a  resolution  adopted  by  the  People's  Club  of  Philadelphia,  which  has 
been  organized  to  promote  the  nomination  of  GEN.  SIMON  CAMERON,  of 
Pennsylvania,  as  the  People's  Candidate  for  the  next  Presidency,  it  has  been 
made  the  duty  of  the  undersigned,  the  Executive  Committee  of  said  Club, 
to  address  you  on  the  subject.  While  in  the  performance  of  this  duty, 
their  preference  for  the  distinguished  Statesman,  proceeding  from  an  earn 
est  conviction  of  his  ability  to  administer  the  government  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  people,  as  well  as  of  his  availability  to  ensure  success  at  the  ballot- 
box,  shall  be  ardently  urged  upon  the  favorable  consideration  of  their  fellow 
citizens,  it  forms  no  part  of  their  purpose  to  give  utterance  to  anything 
prejudicial  to  other  distinguished  statesmen  whose  names  have  been  men 
tioned  as  candidates,  or  that  may  wound  the  feelings,  or  can  justly  cause 
offence  to  any  of  their  friends  and  supporters. 

The  primary  design  of  the  People's  Club  has  already  been  indicated. 
Those  who  belong  to  it  believe  that  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Cameron  would 
ensure  certain  success;  and  so  believing,  they  felt  it  to  be  their  imperative 
duty,  thus  to  organize,  and  thereby  produce  discussion  and  beget  a  spirit  of 
inquiry.  If  successful  in  eliciting  expressions  of  public  opinion,  and  de 
veloping  public  sentiment,  they  will  have  accomplished  their  object,  and  do 
not  fear  the  result.  Well  assured  of  the  high  administrative  capacity  of 
their  choice,  and  confident  of  his  eminent  availability  as  a  candidate,  they 
do  not  fear  public  discussion  of  his  claims  upon  the  consideration  of  those 
who  desire  success,  both  at  the  polls  and  in  the  administration  of  the  govern 
ment  afterwards.  They,  on  the  contrary,  invite  such  a  scrutiny  and  discus 
sion,  and  desire  to  consult  the  views,  and  feelings,  and  wishes  of  the  great 
mass  of  their  fellow  countrymen,  who  are  opposed  to  the  present  adminis 
tration,  and  desire  a  change  to  be  effected  at  the  next  election. 

A  nomination  so  brought  about,  and  which  will  be  emphatically  the 
result  of  the  popular  will,  can  not  fail  to  be  the  proper  one  to  lead  to 
victory.  Any  other  course,  having  reliance  only  on  the  machinery  of 
party,  and  looking  to  the  discipline  of  party-drill  sergeants  for  success,  in 
utter  disregard  of  the  views  and  feelings  of  the  conflicting  elements  into 


M152406 


2  ADDRESS. 

which  the  great  mass  of  people,  whose  united  support  is  necessary,  are  divided, 
can  not  result  otherwise  than  in  defeat. 

In  Pennsylvania,  the  bond  which  unites  the  People's  Party  on  a  common 
platform  of  principles,  and  in  a  common  cause  of  opposition  to  those  in 
power  in  the  Federal  Government,  is  firm  and  strong,  and  will  prove  itself 
enduring  if  not  weakened  or  destroyed  by  misguided  and  uninformed 
councils  elsewhere.  Our  strength  here  is  in  union.  United  action  has 
secured  us  two  successive  victories  in  the  State,  and  will  as  certainly  obtain 
for  us  in  the  future  what  it  has  accomplished  in  the  past.  But,  should  any 
portion  of  the  People's  Party,  influenced  by  the  action  of  their  distinctive 
organization  in  other  States,  be  disposed  to  act  under  opposite  impressions, 
which,  happily,  is  not  likely  to  be  the  case  with  many,  if  any,  those 
having  a  knowledge  of  the  real  condition  of  things  in  the  State,  will  not 
deem  us  rash  in  saying,  that  defeat  would  inevitably  follow  such  act.  To 
be  successful  at  the  next  Presidential  election,  it  seems  to  be  conceded  by 
all,  the  electoral  vote  of  this  State  must  be  secured  ;  and  it,  we  are  per 
suaded,  can  only  be  secured  by  maintaining  the  integrity  of  the  People's 
Party.  We  hold,  therefore,  that  but  one  candidate  for  the  Presidency 
should  be  in  the  field  against  the  Democratic  nominee,  and  that  he  should 
be  the  nominee  of  no  distinctive  organization,  but  of  the  united  action  of  all 
branches  of  the  opposition  to  the  Democratic  Party  of  the  country.  Such 
action,  we  know  full  well,  can  only  be  obtained  by  a  spirit  of  conciliation 
and  forbearance.  Difficult  it  may  be,  but  it  has  been  attained  in  this  State, 
and  glorious  results  have  been  reaped  from  it.  What  has  been  accomplished 
here  may  be  throughout  the  Union,  by  the  same  sacrifice  of  partisan  feelings 
and  prejudices  on  the  altar  of  the  public  good. 

To  nominate  a  candidate,  who  can  unite  the  whole  opposition  into  one 
harmonious  organization  throughout  the  country,  and  command  its  support, 
we  know,  is  no  easy  task.  We  take  pleasure  in  the  assurance,  however, 
derived  from  our  knowledge  of  his  ability  to  do  this  in  our  own  State,  that 
the  choice  already  indicated  is  pre-eminently  adapted  to  become  the  same 
grand  rallying  point  of  the  opposition  throughout  the  country.  We  pre 
sent,  therefore,  to  the  respectful  consideration  of  our  political  brethren  in 
other  States,  the  name  of  Gen.  Simon  Cameron,  as  the  man  certain  of  suc 
cess  in  this  State,  and  as,  in  our  opinion,  the  most  available  to  ensure  suc 
cess  in  the  Union.  In  doing  this,  we  present,  likewise,  a  brief  record  of 
his  private  and  public  career,  his  opinions  on  public  measures,  speeches, 
votes,  &c.;  and  we  do  so,  with  the  confident  belief  that  it  need  be  but 
impartially  examined  to  secure  for  him  ardent  friends  and  supporters  every 
where,  more  especially  among  the  laboring  men  of  the  country,  from  among 
whom  he  has  elevated  himself  to  his  present  high  position,  and  of  whose 
interests  he  is  one  of  the  most  devoted  and  ablest  champions. 

GEN.  CAMERON'S  HISTORY. 

It  is  the  peculiar  boast  of  our  country,  that  its  highest  honors  are  vrithin 
the  reach  of  all  who  are  deserving  of  them.  It  has  no  honors  nor  dignities 
which  are  not  legitimate  objects  of  ambition  to  those  of  the  humblest  pa 
rentage,  as  well  as  those  most  favored  by  the  gifts  of  birth  and  fortune.  It 
is  one  of  the  happiest  results  of  its  free  institutions,  that  none  can  claim 
respect,  nor  command  public  confidence  or  support,  on  account  of  parentage. 
The  good  name  of  an  honest  man,  or  much  desired  fame  of  a  distinguished 
citizen,  can  neither  be  gained  by  inheritance  nor  bestowed  by  devise.  He 
that  desires  to  enjoy  cither,  must  earn  it  by  his  own  deeds.  Ours  is  empha 
tically  a  Government  of  the  People ;  and  it  has  been  from  their  ranks — 


ADDRESS.  3 

"  the  toiling  millions  " — that  have  sprung  those  who  have  shed  the  brightest 
lustre  on  the  pages  of  our  history.  So  universally  almost  has  this  been  the 
case,  as  well  to  justify  the  remark  of  an  eminent  writer,  that  "  the  biography 
of  our  country's  most  distinguished  and  honored  Statesmen  is  eminently 
fraught  with  encouragement  and  hope  for  aspiring  youth — especially  for 
those  who  enter  upon  the  stage  of  active  life  unportioned  and  unheralded 
by  the  partial  voice  of  powerful  friends  and  kindred. " 

The  history  of  Gen.  Simon  Cameron  is  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the 
benign  operations  of  our  free  institutions.  He  is  one  of  the  very  large 
number  of  our  eminent  men,  who,  beside  the  disadvantage  of  poverty  and 
obscurity,  had  to  encounter  that  of  early  orphanage.  He  was  born  to  an 
inheritance  of  poverty,  and  enjoyed  not  the  aid  of  wealthy  and  influential 
connections.  He  has  achieved  eminence  for  himself,  and  owes  it  not  to 
birth  or  pedigree.  All  he  is,  he  has  made  himself.  His  history  affords  a 
no  less  pleasing  than  useful  lesson  of  what  may  be  accomplished,  even  under 
the  most  adverse  circumstances,  and  in  the  face  of  the  greatest  obstacles, 
by  intellect  and  courage,  aided  and  controlled  by  energy,  perseverance, 
sobriety,  and  integrity. 

His  ANCESTRY  AND  PARENTAGE. 

Gen.  Cameron  comes  from  a  brave  and  heroic  race  of  men.  He  is  a  de 
scendant  of  the  Camerons  of  Scotland.  Donald  Cameron,  his  great 
grandfather,  was  among  those  who  took  part  with  Charles  Edward.  He 
fought  at  the  battle  of  Culloden,  in  1745,  and  soon  afterward  came  to  this 
country.  On  his  arrival  here,  he  served  in  the  army  which  so  gallantly 
stormed  the  heights  of  Abraham,  at  Quebec,  under  the  lead  of  the  brave 
and  heroic  Wolfe.  His  grandfather,  on  the  maternal  side,  was  Conrad 
Pfoutz,  a  German  Huguenot,  who,  driven  from  his  native  land  by  bigotry 
and  persecution,  came  to  this  country  at  an  early  period.  Here,  he  soon 
actively  engaged  in  the  wars  with  the  Indians,  and  became  the  intimate 
associate  and  companion  of  the  famous  Captain  Sam  Brady,  the  great 
Indian  fighter. 

His  BIRTH,  EDUCATION,  AND  APPRENTICESHIPS. 

Gen.  Cameron  was  born  on  the  8th  day  of  March,  1799,  in  May  town,  Lan 
caster  county,  Pennsylvania.  Both  his  parents  were  also  natives  of  Lan 
caster,  from  whence  they  moved  to  Northumberland,  in  1808,  where  his 
father  soon  afterwards  died,  leaving  the  family  without  any  other  inheritance 
than  an  honest  name.  The  family  being  thus  deprived  of  its  natural  guar 
dian  and  protector,  and  left  without  any  means  for  their  education  and  sup 
port,  it  was,  of  course,  impossible  for  the  children  to  enjoy  even  the  poor 
advantages  of  education  afforded  by  village  schools  in  those  days.  There 
were  then  no  free  schools;  and  the  mother,  though  possessed  of  great 
energy,  and  the  most  unfaltering  courage,  had  more  than  enough  to  do  to 
feed  and  clothe,  and  keep  together  her  little  ones  under  her  own  family  roof, 
until  they  were  able  to  provide  for  themselves. 

Discouraging  and  unpropitious  as  were  these  circumstances,  they  had  no 
disheartening  influences  upon  the  mind  of  her  son,  Simon  ;  but,  on  the  con 
trary,  they  seem  rather  to  have  had  the  effect  of  stimulating  him  to  exer 
tions  proportionate  to  the  obstacles  in  his  way.  He  was  a  lad  of  but  nine 
years  of  age  at  the  death  of  his  father,  possessing  a  mind  that  had  a  craving 
for  knowledge,  and,  to  satisfy  that  appetite,  he  spent  every  leisure  moment 
in  reading.  But  there  were  then  no  well  furnished  public  libraries,  acces- 


4  ADDRESS. 

sible  to  boys,  as  there  now  are.  He  accordingly  directed  his  attention  to 
the  village  printing  office,  where  he  might  have  the  use  of  the  exchange 
papers,  and  thus  satisfy  his  mental  appetite,  and  accumulate  a  stock  of  use 
ful  knowledge.  An  opportunity  soon  offered,  of  which  he  availed  himself 
with  alacrity,  by  becoming  apprentice  to  learn  the  art  and  mystery  of  print 
ing.  While  he  had  this  place,  he  had  access  to  food  for  the  mind,  and  its 
appetite  grew  by  what  it  fed  upon  •  but  he  was  not  destined  long  to  enjoy 
the  advantages  of  the  place  which  he  had  thus  secured.  After  a  year  or 
two  his  employer  was  obliged  to  succumb  to  financial  reverses,  and  to  close 
up  his  establishment.  This  happened  in  1817.  Having  by  this  time  pos 
sessed  himself  of  an  amount  of  practical  information  that  emboldened  him 
to  enter  upon  life  with  a  confident  reliance  upon  himself,  he  started  from 
home,  almost  penniless,  it  is  true,  and  with  nothing  but  a  small  bundle  of  cloth 
ing  under  his  arm,  with  the  intention  of  working  his  way,  how,  or  in  what 
manner,  he  hardly  knew  himself,  to  South-America,  there  to  engage  in  the 
struggle  for  independence,  which  was  then  going  on  between  the  South 
American  colonies  and  Old  Spain.  When  he  reached  Harrisburg,  however, 
he  already  found  his  feet  so  blistered  as  to  make  it  necessary  for  him  to 
tarry  there  for  a  while.  Having  a  letter  of  introduction  to  James  Peacock, 
Esq.,  then  editor  of  a  paper  at  that  place,  he  applied  to  him  for  employ 
ment  in  his  office.  There  was  no  vacancy,  nor  need  for  him  in  it ;  but  Mr. 
Peacock  kindly  invited  him  to  remain  and  recruit  his  energies  before  con 
tinuing  his  tramp.  Finding  him  an  expert  workman,  and  being  pleased 
with  his  manner  and  demeanor,  Mr.  Peacock,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  days, 
offered  to  take  him  as  an  apprentice,  which  offer  was  promptly  accepted, 
and  an  apprenticeship  entered  into,  and  faithfully  served  out  to  the  satisfac 
tion  of  his  employer  and  his  own. 

His  COURSE  AFTER  ARRIVING  AT  AGE. 

Gen.  Cameron  having  arrived  at  his  majority,  in  1820,  he  left  Harris- 
burg,  and  spent  the  greater  part  of  that  year  in  a  printing  office  at  Doyles- 
town,  setting  type  and  editing  the  paper.  The  next  year  was  spent  by  him 
as  a  journeyman  printer,  in  the  office  of  Messrs.  Gales  and  Seaton,  publish 
ers  of  the  National  Ihtelligencer,  in  the  city  of  Washington.  He  returned 
to  Harrisburg,  in  1822*  and  became  a  copartner  with  Charles  Mowry,  in  the 
publication  of  the  Intelligencer,  which  was  then  the  organ  of  the  Democratic 
party,  at  the  seat  of  government,  and  enjoj'ed  the  official  patronage  of  the 
State  administration.  It  will  be  thus  perceived  that  he  commenced  his 
editorial  career,  with  the  leading  organ  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  State, 
within  a  year  after  he  had  arrived  at  age,  and  that,  too,  without  having  en 
joyed  any  other  means  of  education  and  training,  fur  so  important  a  duty, 
than  what  the  printing  office  furnishes  to  an  apprentice.  How,  and  with  what 
skill  and  ability,  he  performed  the  important  duty,  which  he  thus  assumed, 
without  having  enjoyed  the  usual  advantages  of  even  a  school  education, 
saying  nothing  of  a  collegiate  course,  to  prepare  him  for  it.  his  success  in 
the  undertaking,  and  his  rapid  rise  to  influence  and  position  among  the 
public  men  of  the  State,  afford  an  answer  which  can  neither  be  misappre 
hended  nor  mistaken.  He  continued  to  conduct  the  Intelligencer  until 
1829,  when  he  retired  to  engage  in  other  business  pursuits. 

WAS  APPOINTED  ADJUTANT  GENERAL. 

He  was  the  early  friend  and  supporter  of  John  Andrew  Shu.lze  for  Go 
vernor,  who,  before  his  election  to  that  office,  represented  Lebanon  county 


ADDRESS.  0 

in  the  State  Senate,  and,  while  in  that  body,  had  attracted  the  notice  of 
some  of  the  leading  Democrats,  as  a  popular. and  available  candidate.  Gen. 
Cameron  was  active  in  urging  his  nomination,  and  became  a  zealous  and 
efficient  supporter  of  his  administration.  During  the  latter  part  of  it,  he 
was  honored  with  the  appointment  of  Adjutant  General  of  the  State,  the 
duties  of  which  he  discharged  with  ability,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
public. 

His  RETIREMENT  AS  EDITOR  OF  THE  INTELLIGENCER. 

Gen.  Cameron  took  an  active  part  in  1829,  in  favor  of  the  nomination  of 
Gen.  Bernard  as  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Governor,  who  was  at  that 
time  the  favorite  of  the  Democracy  of  the  State,  and  whose  defeat  in  the 
Convention  was  regarded  as  a  disregard  of  the  public  will,  and  gave  rise  to 
great  dissatisfaction  in  the  party  throughout  the  State.  Participating  in 
this  feeling,  Gen.  Cameron  retired  from  the  Intelligencer,  and  turned  his 
attention  to  other  business  pursuits. 

ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  MIDDLETOWN  BANK. 

In  1832,  a  charter  was  obtained  for  the  establishment  of  the  jiiaaletown 
Bank,  of  which,  on  its  organization,  he  became  the  Cashier,  a  position  held 
by  him  from  that  time  until  the  present.  Though  mainly  occupied  from 
the  time  of  its  organization  until  1845,  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as 
Cashier  of  it,  and  attending  to  other  private  business  matters  of  his  own, 
he  ever  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  political  movements  of  the  day.  Dur 
ing  this  period  he  was  repeatedly  brought  forward  and  urged,  by  his  friends, 
for  public  positions,  and,  in  1838,  he  was  unanimously  nominated  for  Con 
gress,  by  the  Democratic  party  of  his  District,  but  he  refused  the  use  of  his 
name  on  all  occasions,  and  declined  the  nomination  thus  given  him. 

APPOINTMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER. 

In  1838,  President  Van  Buren  tendered  to  Gen.  Cameron  the  appointment 
of  Commissioner  under  a  treaty  with  the  Winnebago  Indians,  to  settle  and 
adjust  the  claim  made  against  the  Indians  by  the  traders.  Mr.  James 
Murray,  one  of  the  most  respected  citizens  of  Maryland,  was  appointed  with 
him  in  the  commission.  The  sum  appropriated  by  the  Treaty  was  $400.000. 
The  claims  of  the  traders  were  for  goods  furnished  the  Indians  during  a 
long  period  of  years.  The  Commissioners  were,  by  their  instructions,  bound 
to  examine  testimony  and  allow  what,  in  their  judgment,  was  just,  and 
after  payment,  the  sum  remaining  was  to  remain  in  the  Treasury.  The 
claims  of  the  traders,  on  examination,  were  found,  in  many  cases,  to  be 
entirely  without  foundation.  A  Commissioner  had  been  appointed  by  the 
Indians,  to  meet  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  States,  and  every  account 
allowed  by  them  met  the  approbation  of  the  agent  of  the  Indians.  A  great  deal 
of  patient  labor  was  given  to  the  subject,  and,  after  more  than  two  months 
spent  in  the  Indian  country,  the  Commissioners  reduced  the  aggregate 
amount  of  claims  from  over  a  million  to  about  $250.000.  In  the  settlement 
of  some  of  the  claims,  the  traders  refused  to  accept  the  awards,  and  came 
to  Washington  with  charges  against  the  Commissioners.  This  was  met  by  a 
demand  from  the  Commissioners  for  a  re-examination,  which  resulted  in  the 
appointment  of  a  new  Commissioner  the  next  year,  under  whose  direction 
the  Indians  were  assembled  in  Council,  who  approved,  by  a  united  vote  of 
their  Council,  the  entire  acts  of  Messrs.  Cameron  and  Murray,  and  the 
account  thus  adjudged  was  paid  by  the  Government. 


6  ADDRESS. 

His  ELECTION  AS  U.  S.  SENATOR  IN  1846. 

In  1845,  when  James  K.  Polk,  the  President  elect,  tendered  the  State 
Department  to  James  Buchanan,  and  that  gentleman  resigned  his  seat  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  an  election,  to  supply  the  vacancy,  became 
necessary.  The  Democratic  party  having  a  majority  in  both  branches  of  the 
Legislature,  then  in  session,  counted  with  confidence  on  selecting  a  Senator 
who  would  sustain  the  whole  policy  of  the  administration  at  Washington  ; 
but  it  became  apparent,  even  before  the  President  was  installed  in  office, 
that  the  policy  of  his  administration  would  be  in  conflict  with  the  pledges 
given,  in  Pennsylvania,  on  the  Tariff  question,  to  secure  his  election.  Great 
difficulty  arose  among  the  Democratic  members,  in  consequence  of  this 
apprehended  Punic  faith,  on  the  part  of  the  new  administration,  the  major 
portion  of  them  being  disposed  to  turn  their  backs  upon  their  own  solemn 
pledges  during  the  campaign  of  1844,  while  a  minority  of  them  were  deter 
mined  to  maintain  their  own  honor,  and  to  refuse  to  lend  themselves  to 
any  such  breach  of  faith.  George  W.  Woodward  finally  became  the  caucus 
nominee.  His  nomination  was  regarded  as  a  Free  Trade  triumph,  and  ren 
dered  it  possible  for  some  other  Democrat,  known  to  be  honestly  devoted  to 
the  cherished  policy  of  the  State,  to  be  elected,  by  a  union  of  the  Whigs 
and  Americans,  and  those  Democrats  that  were  in  favor  of  the  Protective 
policy.  In  view  of  this  condition  of  affairs,  James  Cooper,  John  P.  San 
derson,  Jasper  E.  Brady,  Levi  Kline,  John  C.  Kunkel,  and  other  Whig 
members  of  the  Legislature,  on  the  morning  of  the  day  fixed  for  the 
election,  addressed  a  note  to  Gen.  Cameron,  propounding  certain  queries  as 
to  his  views  on  the  subject  of  the  Tariff,  and  the  course  he  would  pursue  if 
elected  Senator.  These  queries  being  answered  satisfactorily,  the  Whigs, 
and  the  Americans  then  representing  the  County  of  Philadelphia,  went  into 
the  Convention  with  a  determination  to  support  him,  in  case  he  should 
receive  a  sufficient  number  of  Democratic  votes  to  secure  his  election. 
Judge  Woodward  received  but  fifty-four  votes  on  the  first  ballot,  being 
thirteen  less  than  a  majority  of  the  whole.  Gen.  Cameron  had  eleven  votes, 
all  of  whom  were  Democrats.  Four  more  ballots  were  had,  on  the  last  of 
which,  being  the  fifth,  Gen.  Cameron  had  sixty-seven  votes,  and  was  declared 
elected.  This  unexpected  result  caused  great  distraction  among  the 
Democracy.  It  proved  a  death  blow  to  the  further  progress  of  Free  Trade 
in  the  State,  and  led  to  an  overwhelming  defeat  of  those  who  thus  sought 
to  betray  its  interest,  at  the  next  succeeding  election,  in  1846. 

His  SERVICE  IN  THE  SENATE. 

Gen.  Cameron  was  a  member  of  the  U.  S.  Senate  from  March,  1845,  un 
til  March  4,  1849.  During  that  period  he  was  a  member  of  a  number  of 
important  committees  of  the  body.  He  served,  for  a  session  or  two,  as 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  was  at  the 
same  time  also  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs,  that  on  Terri 
tories,  and  one  or  two  others.  He  was,  also,  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Patents  and  the  Patent  Office,  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Printing, 
and  that  on  Public  Buildings.  He  not  only  distinguished  himself  as  one 
of  the  most  attentive,  active,  and  useful  business  members,  but  acquired 
and  wielded  a  personal  influence  in  the  body  not  excelled  by  any  other  mem 
ber  of  it.  He  proved  himself  true  to  the  great  interests  of  his  native  State 
especially  committed  to  his  charge,  and  never  wearied  in  the  support  of  the 
principles  on  which  he  was  elected.  He  not  only  boldly  reflected,  by  his 
speeches  and  votes,  the  sentiments  of  the  industrial  classes  whose  rights 


ADDRESS.  7 

and  interests  were  about  being  sacrificed,  but  he  fearlessly  exposed  the 
treachery  and  fraud  by  which  they  were  swindled  into  the  support  of  those 
who  proved  themselves  so  unfaithful.  No  man  ever  returned  among  his 
constituents,  at  the  end  of  his  term,  and  was  hailed  with  more  hearty  greet 
ings  of  approval  of  his  conduct  than  was  he. 

His  NOMINATION  FOR  U.  S.  SENATOR  IN  1855. 

In  1855,  the  Whigs  and  Americans  having,  in  the  fall  of  1854,  by  united 
action,  elected  a  Governor,  and  secured  both  branches  of  the  Legislature, 
he  again  became  the  caucus  nominee  for  United  States  Senator.  Owing  to 
internal  feuds  and  divisions  among  those  having  a  majority,  there  was  no 
election  at  the  time  fixed  by  law,  and  it  was  subsequently  postponed  until  the 
succeeding  session  of  the  Legislature,  when  the  Democrats  in  the  meantime 
having  obtained  a  majority,  Ex-Governor  Bigler  was  elected  by  them. 

His  ELECTION  AS  U.  S.  SENATOR,  IN  1857. 

In  the  winter  of  1857,  the  entire  opposition  members  of  the  Legislature 
again  selected  him  as  their  candidate  to  fill  the  place  of  Senator  Brodhead, 
whose  term  expired  on  the  4th  of  March,  1857.  The  Democratic  caucus 
nominated  Col.  John  W.  Forney,  with  great  confidence  of  success,  but  divi 
sions  in  the  party  rendered  it  impossible  to  unite  a  sufficient  number  of 
members  in  his  support  to  elect  him.  In  this  condition  of  things,  three 
members,  elected  as  Democrats,  two  from  Schuylkill  and  one  from  York, 
counties  in  which  Gen.  Cameron  possesses  great  strength  and  popularity,  on 
account  of  his  firm  devotion  to  their  industrial  interests,  found  themselves 
obliged  to  defer  to*  the  pressure  of  sentiment  upon  them  from,  home,  and 
accordingly  united  with  the  opposition  in  his  support,  which  secured  his 
election  for  the  second  time  to  the  Senate.  He  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1857,  and  his  course  in  that  body,  from  that  time  to 
the  present,  has  been  in  strict  accordance  with  the  views,  and  feelings,  and 
interests  of  a  large  majority  of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania.  He  has  been 
made  a  member  of  some  of  the  most  important  committees  in  the  body,  and 
his  eminent  practical  business  qualifications  and  habits  have  not  only  secured 
him  an  enviable  influence  in  all  matters  of  legislation,  but  given  him  a  posi 
tion  as  a  practical  Statesman  that  now  attracts  the  attention  of  a  large  num 
ber  of  his  countrymen  to  him,  as  pre-eminently  fitted  for  the  performance 
of  the  perplexing  duties  of  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  nation. 

His  DEVOTION  TO  THE  PROTECTIVE  POLICY. 

Gen.  Cameron  has  been  all  his  life  the  consistent  and  devoted  advocate 
of  the  protection  of  American  labor.  Though  reared  in  the  Democratic 
school  of  politics,  his  is  not  that  Democracy  which  has  arisen  in  these  latter 
days,  and  which  manifests  a  disposition  to  shape  our  legislation  to  suit 
foreign  capitalists  and  manufacturers,  instead  of  protecting  and  encouraging 
our  own  industrial  pursuits.  His  position,  on  this  subject,  cannot  be  better 
i  described  than  in  his  own  language,  to  be  found  in  a  speech  delivered  by 
him  in  the  Senate,  in  1846  : — "  I  am  proud,"  said  he,  "  to  call  myself  a 
Democrat.  I  am  the  son  of  a  Democrat.  I  represent  a  State  whose  De 
mocracy  no  one  will  doubt ;  and  for  one  I  must  object  to  this  mode  of  fixing 
principles  on  the  party.  I  was  taught  in  early  life  to  believe  that  the  Demo 
cratic  party  was  the  friend  of  the  poor — of  the  laboring  classes  j  that  its 
principles  were  calculated  to  elevate  the  masses  ;  but  the  principle  of  this 


8  ADDRESS. 

Southern  Democracy  would  rob  the  poor  man  of  his  labor,  and  make  him 
dependent  un  the  capitalists  of  England  for  his  scanty  subsistence.  Such 
was  not  the  doctrine  of  such  Democrats  as  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  or 
Jackson/' 

Entertaining  these  views  from  the  time  he  arrived  at  manhood,  he  ably 
and  efficiently  advocated  the  Democratic  policy  of  Pennsylvania  for  the  pro 
tection  of  American  industry,  while  he  had  the  editorial  control  of  the  State 
organ  of  the  party  at  Harrisburg.  During  the  memorable  contests  in  Con 
gress  on  this  subject  in  1823—4,  and  again  in  1827-8,  the  editorial  columns 
of  his  paper  were  filled  with  articles  proving  the  Democratic  character  of  a 
Tariff  for  the  protection  of  American  labor,  and  showing  that  no  nation  had 
ever  flourished  that  did  not  encourage  and  protect  its  own  labor,  and  develop 
its  own  resources. 

His  LETTER  IN  FAVOR  OP  THE  TARIFF  OF  1842. 

The  letter  already  referred  to,  in  reply  to  one  addressed  to  him  by 
Messrs.  Cooper,  Brady,  Sanderson,  Kline,  and  other  Whig  members  of  the 
Legislature,  at  the  time  of  his  first  election  to  the  U.  S.  Senate,  is  as  fol 
lows  : — 

Harrisburg,  March  12,  1845. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  received  your  note  of  this  date,  in  which  you  ask  my  answer  to 
questions  touching  certain  puints  of  national  policy.  Your  position,  as  members  of  the 
body  to  which  the  constitution  has  confided  the  election  of  the  representatives  of  the  State- 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  authorizes  you  to  propound  these  questions,  and,  in 
my  opinion,  requires  that  I  should  frankly  answer  them.  I  have  no  difficulty  in  making 
my  reply. 

On  the  subjects  to  which  they  refer  I  have  long-  since  matured  and  avowed  my  opi 
nions.  During  the  recent  Presidential  election  the  Tariff  of  1842  was  much  discussed. 
The  Democratic  party  of  this  State  took  a  decided  stand  in  favor  of  this  measure.  The 
leading  interests  of  the  State  are  involved  in  its  preservation.  The  people,  without  dis 
tinction  of  party,  concur  in  desiring  that  its  provisions  should  remain  unaltered,  and 
regard  any  attempt  to  change  them  as  hazardous  to  the  interests  of  American  industry. 
Supported  by  the  Democratic  party  of  the  State  in  my  views,  and  feeling  the  importance 
of  the  measure  to  Pennsylvania,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  declaring  that  I  am  in  favor  of 
the  Tariff  of  1842,  and  if  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  I  will  sustain  it 
without  change. 

The  amount  received  into  the  Treasury  from  the  public  lands  will  not,  for  many  years, 
be  of  much  importance.  Whether  the  proceeds  of  such  sales  should  be  distributed  among 
the  States,  is  a  question  that,  in  my  opinion,  will  not  for  a  long  period  be  of  much  prac 
tical  moment.  The  public  lands  are  held  in  trust,  however,  for  the  benefit  of  all  the 
States.  In  my  apprehension,  the  best  application  that  this  State  can  make  of  her  share 
in  that  trust  would  be  its  employment  in  the  discharge  of  the  State  debts.  I  am,  there- 
fore,  in  favor  of  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  and  if  elected,  will 
support  that  measure. 

The  failure  of  the  Democratic  members  of  the  Legislature  to  unite  on  a  candidate, 
may  have  induced  your  desire  to  learn  the  sentiments  of  the  various  gentlemen  placed  in 
nomination.  This  reply  is  merely  a  repetition  of  long-entertained  and  often-expressed 
sentiments.  They  are  given  without  reserve,  and  in  the  spirit  of  frankness  which  I  de 
sire  always  to  characterize  my  conduct. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  much  respect, 

SIMON   CAMERON. 

His  SPEECH  ON  THE  TARIFF,  JULY  22,  1846. 

Ably  nnd  faithfully  did  he  maintain  the  views  expressed  in  this  letter  on 
the  floor  of  the  Senate.  In  a  speech  from  which  a  quotation  has  already 
been  made,  delivered  by  him  in  the  Senate,  July  22d,  1846,  he  spoke  as 
follows  : — 

"  I  come  here  the  representative  of  a  State  deeply  interested  in  the  development  of  our 
resources,  and  in  fostering  and  protecting  the  industry  of  her  citizens.  A  State  which 
\ias  expended  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  in  making  those  re- 


ADDRESS.  9 

sources  available  ;  a  State  which  in  two  wars  has  expended  more  blood  and  more  treasure  in 
the  common  defence  than  any  State  in  the  Union  ;  a  State  which  has  never  asked  any 
favors  from  the  Union,  and  which  has  received  as  little  benefit  from  it  as  any  one  in  it; — 
even  the  fort  wiiich  was  built  for  the  defence  of  her  city,  with  the  money  of  her  own  citi 
zens,  has  been  suffered  to  go  to  decay  by  the  general  government; — a  State  proverbial  for 
the  democracy  of  her  sons,  so  much  so  that  no  Democratic  President  was  ever  elected 
without  her  vote  ;  nay,  one  which  never  gave  a  vote  against  a  Democratic  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  until  she  believed  there  was  a  settled  design  to  desert  her  dearly-cherished 
interests. 

"  You  can,  therefore,  Mr.  President,  imagine  my  surprise  when  I  find  our  time-honored 
Commonwealth  charged  with  a  v/ant  of  democracy  in  her  opposition  to  this  bill.  From 
one  end  of  her  wide  domain  to  the  other  she  does  oppose  it,  and  if  I  fail  to  show  that  she 
has  abundant  cause,  it  will  not  be  for  the  want  of  defects  in  the  bill  itself.  So  far  as  she 
is  concerned,  it  can  produce  evil,  and  evil  only. 

"  The  support  of  a  system  of  protection  for  the  labor  of  her  citizens  is  with  her  not 
new.  It  is  a  lesson  she  learned  from  the  fathers  of  the  Republic,  and  which  was  prac 
ticed  witli  uniform  and  unvarying  consistency  by  all  of  her  early  settlers.  Her  sons  have 
not,  and  I  trust  in  God  never  will,  prove  recreant  to  the  wholesome  lessons  of  their  ancestry. 
It  is  to  this  practice  and  to  these  lessons  that  she  owes  her  present  prosperity  and  fame. 

"Go  where  you  will,  there  is  but  one  sentiment  now  pervading  the  public  mind  on  this 
subject.  It  lias  grown  with  her  growth,  and  strengthened  with  her  strength  ;  and  there 
is  a  cry  coming  up  now  from  her  borders,  echoed  from  every  hill  and  from  every  valley ; 
from  her  very  bowels,  as  you  saw  the  other  clay,  by  the  petition  which  I  presented  from 
her  hardy  miners,  whose  habitations  are  under  ground;  from  every  village,  from  every 
workshop,  from  every  farm-house  the  cry  is  heard,  invoking  us  to  interpose  between  them 
and  ruin.  Every  Legislature  for  years  has  instructed  her  representatives  here  to  adhere 
to  her  favorite  policy  ;  and  no  man  has  ever  presumed  to  ask  her  favor  without  admitting 
the  justice  and  propriety  of  her  views  upon  this  subject;  and  I  may  add,  Mr.  President,  woe 
betide  the  man  who  raises  his  suicidal  hand  against  her,  now  in  the  hour  of  her  extremity. 

"  I  have  said  her  favor  was  never  asked  without  a  pledge  to  support  her  views.  You 
know,  sir,  how  it  was  in  1844.  I  need  not  tell  you  that  you  would  not  now  occupy  that 
chair  but  for  the  assurances — the  oft-repeated  assurances — that  her  policy  would  not  be 
disturbed.  You  and  I  remember  the  scenes  of  that  day.  We  cannot  forget  the  flags  and 
banners  which  were  carried  in  the  processions  of  her  democracy  pending  the  election 
which  resulted  in  the  triumph  of  our  party.  It  cannot,  and  it  ought  not  to  be  disguised,  that 
but  for  these  assurances  to  which  I  have  alluded,  that  triumph  never  would  have  been  ob 
tained.  I  remember  the  anxiety  which  pervaded  the  rninds  of  politicians  until  the  pub 
lications  of  the  Kane  letter,  and  I  cannot  forget  the  pains  that  were  taken  by  the  leading 
men  of  the  party  to  convince  the  people  that  it  was  evidence  of  an  intention  to  protect 
our  interests.  Her  confiding  citizens  gave  their  support  in  good  faith,  and  they  expected 
good  faith  in  return.  The  letter  was  published  in  English  and  German,  in  every  Demo 
cratic  paper  in  the  State,  and  in  pamphlets  by  thousands.  Every  Democrat  pointed  to  it 
as  a  satisfactory  Tariff  letter,  and  no  Democrat  doubted  it.  It  is  not  saying  too  much  to 
ascribe  to  that  letter,  mainly,  the  Democratic  majority  of  the  State.  Surely,  honorable 
men  will  not  now,  since  the  battle  has  been  fought  and  the  honors  won  by  it,  evade  its 
responsibility,  by  saying  that  too  liberal  a  construction  was  put  upon  it.  If  it  was  wrongly 
applied,  there  was  time  enough  for  its  contradiction  between  the  time  of  its  publication 
and  the  election.  The  party  majority  in  this  Hall  may  be  fairly  attributed  to  that  letter, 
and  I  ask  honorable  senators  if  they  expect  that  majority  can  be  attained  if  this  bill  shall 
become  a  law?  I  warn  them  now  of  the  sudden  and  swift  destruction  which  awaits  us 
if  Punic  faith  is  to  govern  the  counsels  of  the  Democratic  party.  It  is  to  avert  what  I 
believe  would  be  a  dire  calamity — the  prostration  of  Democratic  principles — that  I  raise 
my  voice  to  arrest  the  further  progress  of  this  bill." 

His  REBUKE  TO  YICE  PRESIDENT  DALLAS. 

In  the  same  speech  from  which  such  copious  extracts  already  have  been 
made,  after  noticing  a  rumor  that  letters  had  been  received  from  Pennsyl 
vania  advising  the  repeal  of  the  Tariff  of  1842,  and  saying  that  if  such  let 
ters  had  been  received,  they  must  have  been  written  by  men  who  would 
barter  principle  for  office,  and  see  the  whole  State  in  ruin  if  they  could 
only  batten  upon  the  offals  of  the  Government,  he  concluded  his  remarks  by 
administering  the  following  withering  rebuke  to  Vice  President  Dallas  : — 

"  We  are  told  out  of  the  House  that  this  bill  is  to  become  a  law  by  the  casting  vote  of 
the  Vice  President.  I  am  happy  to  say  that  I  have  seen  no  evidence  of  such  intention, 


10  ADDRESS. 

nor  will  I  believe  that  there  is  such  a  design,  until  I  am  convinced  by  the  evidence  of  my 
own  senses.  To  all  the  inquiries  that  have  been  made  of  me  I  have  said  that  it  cannot 
be;  that  no  native  Pennsylvanian,  honored  with  the  trust  and  confidence  of  his  fellow- 
citizens,  could  prove  recreant  to  that  trust  and  dishonor  the  State  that  gave  him  birth. 
His  honorable  name,  and  the  connections  of  his  ancestry  with  her  history,  forbid  it.  His 
own  public  acts  and  written  sentiments  forbid  it.  If,  as  has  been  said,  this  question  is  to 
be  settled  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Vice  President,  he  will  not,  as  a  wise  man,  adopt  a 
bill  which  no  Senator  will  father;  but  will  rather,  taking-  advantage  of  his  high  and  honor 
able  position,  make  one  which  shall  contribute  to  the  happiness  of  our  people  and  the 
glory  of  our  common  country.  Let  him  not  be  allured  by  the  voice  of  flattery  from  the 
sunny  south.  No  man  can  be  strong  abroad  who  is  not  strong  at  home.  Before  a  pub 
lic  man  risks  a  desperate  leap,  he  should  remember  that  political  gratitude  is  prospective; 
that  desertion  of  home,  of  friends,  and  of  country,  may  be  hailed  by  the  winning  party 
when  the  traitor  is  carrying  in  the  flag  of  his  country ;  but  when  the  honors  of  the  nation 
whom  he  has  served  are  to  be  distributed,  none  are  given  to  him. 

"Will  any  man  believe  that  a  son  of  South  Carolina,  occupying  that  chair,  elected  un 
der  such  circumstances,  with  the  casting  vote  in  his  hands  on  this  bill,  would  give  that 
vote  contrary  to  the  almost  unanimous  wishes  of  his  own  State?  And  shall  it  be  said 
that  a  Pennsylvanian  has  less  attachment  for  his  Commonwealth  than  a  son  of  Carolina? 
I  have  said  that  I  will  not  believe  it,  and  as  evidence  that  it  cannot  be  so,  I  give,  in 
conclusion,  the  following  eloquent  passage  from  a  speech  of  the  honorable  George  M. 
Dallas,  when  occupying  the  seat  I  now  hold,  on  a  question  precisely  similar  to  the  one 
now  before  us." 

EXTRACT  FROM  A  SPEECH  OF  MR.  DALLAS  ON  THE  TARIFF  OF  1832. 

"I  am  inflexible,  sir,  as  to  nothing  but  adequate  protection.  The  process  of  attaining 
that  may  undergo  any  mutation.  Secure  that  to  the  home  labor  of  this  country  and  our 
opponents  shall  have,  as  far  as  my  voice  and  suffrage-can  give  it  to  them,  a  '•carte,  blanche.'1 
whereon  to  settle  any  arrangement  or  adjustment  their  intelligence  may  suggest.  It 
might  have  been  expected,  not  unreasonably,  that  they  who  desired  change  should  tender 
their  projet ;  that  they  would  designate  noxious  particulars  and  intimate  their  remedies; 
that  they  would  invoke  the  skill  and  assistance  of  practical  and  experienced  observers  on 
a  subject  with  which  few  of  us  are  familiar,  and  point  with  precision  to  such  parts  of  the 
extensive  system  as  can  be  modified  without  weakening  or  endangering  the  whole  struc 
ture.  They  have  forborne  to  do  this.  They  demand  an  entire  demolition.  FREE  TRADE 
is  the  burden  of  their  eloquence,  the  golden  fleece  of  their  adventurous  enterprise;  the 
goal  short  of  which  they  will  not  pause  even  to  breathe.  I  cannot  join  their  expedition 
for  such  object.  An  established  policy — coeval,  in  the  language  of  President  Jackson,  with 
our  Government — believed  by  an  immense  majority  of  our  people  to  be  constitutional, 
wise,  and  expedient,  may  not  be  abruptly  abandoned  by  Congress  without  a  treacherous 
departure  from  duty,  a  shameless  dereliction  of  sacred  trust  and  confidence.  To  expect  it 
is  both  extravagant  and  unkind." 

ArrROVAL  OP  His  CONDUCT  BY  THE  PEOPLE. 

After  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  and  his  return  home,  he  was  hailed 
everywhere  as  one  who  had  been  tried  and  found  more  than  faithful.  The 
demonstrations  of  approval  were  not  confined  to  any  particular  political 
party,  but  all  vied  with  each  other  in  doing  honor  to  him.  The  Whigs  and 
the  Democrats,  at  their  respective  county  meetings,  passed  resolutions  highly 
complimentary  to  him.  Thus  the  Democratic  Conferees  of  the  Schuylkill 
Congressional  District  resolved  :  "  That  the  ability  and  untiring  exertions 
displayed  by  the  Hon.  Simon  Cameron,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
in  defence  of  American  labor  and  industry,  have  placed  his  name  in  the  front 
rank  of  Pennsylvania's  favorite  sons,  and  we  greet  him  with  that  salutation 
so  cheering  to  an  honest  representative,  l  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful 
servant/" — W'hile  the  Whigs  of  Columbia  and  other  counties,  at  the  same 
time,  passed  such  as  the  following:  "  Resolved,  That  as  citizens  of  Penn 
sylvania,  we  have  looked  with  pride  and  satisfaction  to  the  honorable,  faith 
ful,  untiring,  yet  unsuccessful  exertions  of  the  Hon.  Simon  Cameron,  in  the 
defence  of  his  native  State,  during  the  pendency  of  M'Kay's  British  Tariff 
Bill  before  Congress,  and  however  much  we  may  differ  on  other  questions 


ADDRESS.  11 

of  public  policy,  as  regards  this  one,  we  hail  him  as  Pennsylvania's  true  friend 
and  champion,  standing  in  noble  and  honorable  contrast  to  the  silver-haired 
trickster,  who,  by  his  casting  vote,  sold  his  native  State  to  the  tender  mer 
cies  of  Man  owners/' 

Public  dinners  were  tendered  to  him  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  as  a 
testimony  of  regard  for  his  services,  all  of  which  he  declined.  The  answers 
to  these  invitations  are  too  numerous  to  insert.  The  one  addressed  to  the 
citizens  of  Danville,  one  of  the  most  extensive  iron  manufacturing  towns  in 
the  State,  gives,  however,  so  briefly  and  pertinently  his  views  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  tariff  as  to  justify  its  insertion  at  length.  It  is  as  fellows  : 

Middletown,  August  31,  1846. 

GENTLEMEN: — Your  letter,  inviting  me  to  partake  of  a  public  dinner  at  Danville,  has 
been  received,  and  while  I  attribute  the  high  honor  you  design  to  confer  on  me  to  your 
kindness  and  the  partiality  arising  from  early  associations,  rather  than  to  any  merit  I 
may  possess,  or  any  services  I  have  performed,  I  am  still  profoundly  grateful  for  it. 

Such  a  public  demonstration  of  your  purpose  is  only  due  to  the  statesman  of  high  re 
putation,  earned  by  long  and  important  services  rendered  his  country.  I  can  lay  no  claim 
to  such  distinction.  The  recent  session  of  Congress  was  the  first  occasion  of  my  con 
nection  with  public  affairs.  I  had  no  desire  when  I  entered  upon  its  duties  to  remain 
long  in  the  public  service,  and  I  have  now  no  ambition  connected  with  official  station, 
further  than  to  perform  my  duty  fearlessly  and  faithfully  to  the  best  of  my  abilities  cur 
ing  the  continuance  of  my  term.  It  was  my  fortune  to  be  in  Congress  when  this  revenue 
measure,  which  affects  so  vitally  the  interests  of  my  native  State,  was  under  discussion, 
and  connected  as  I  am,  in  all  my  sympathies  with  her  laborers  and  mechanics,  I  could 
not  do  otherwise  than  oppose  with  all  my  zeal  and  such  ability  as  I  have,  M.  bill  affecting 
so  detrimentally  their  comfort  and  happiness,  and  through  them  the  prosperity  of  the 
Commonwealth.  I  only  regret  that  my  exertions  were  not  more  successful. 

My  rule  through  life  has  been  not  to  despond  for  the  past,  but  to  look  with  hope  and 
confidence  to  the  future,  and  to  "  persevere  unto  the  end"  in  a  good  cause.  If  the  friends 
of  domestic  industry  pursue  this  course,  we  will  compel  a  change  of  this  obnoxious  and 
ill-digested  law  at  the  next  session.  A  little  reflection  will  teach  the  poor  but  mistaken 
men  among  its  advocates  of  their  error,  and  the  others  will  have  to  yield.  Pennsylvania 
has  strong  claims  upon  the  sympathies  of  her  sister  States,  and  she  is  too  important  to  the 
interests  of  the  confederacy  to  permit  any  of  them  to  continue  this  wrong  upon,  her,  if 
she  resists  it  boldly,  steadily,  and  legally. 

We  may  be  surprised  that  South  Carolina,  which,  in  1833,  would  have  destroyed  the 
Union,  but  for  the  firmness  of  General  Jackson,  should  so  soon  after  his  death  fix  upon  it 
the  very  principles  upon  which  she  based  her  nullification,  and  while  we  cannot  approve 
her  threatened  treason,  we  may  with  profit  follow  the  example  of  her  determined  perse 
verance.  We  have  only  to  be  true  to  ourselves,  and  we  cannot  fail  to  succeed  in  procur 
ing  a  repeal  of  the  law.  A  few  months  will  show  the  want  of  wisdom  in  its  principles 
and  details,  and  prove  its  failure  as  a  revenue  measure.  The  very  members  who  have 
forced  it  upon  us,  all  of  whom  denied  its  paternity,  will  probably  soon  seek  an  excuse  for  its 
change.  All  thriftless  persons  are  discontented  with  their  own  situations,  and  envious  of 
the  prosperity  of  their  more  frugal  neighbors.  Neither  men  nor  States  who  do  not  work 
can  be  prosperous,  and  our  Southern  fellow- citizens  will  find  that  no  reduction  of  the  tariff 
will  make  them  rich  nor  bring  us  down  to  their  condition.  They  may  retard  our  onward 
progress  for  a  time,  but  no  system  of  laws  will  destroy  the  ultimate  prosperity  of  Penn 
sylvania.  Until  we  can  accomplish  its  repeal  in  a  constitutional  way,  we  must  make  the 
best  of  the  law,  and  by  greater  economy  and  more  intense  labor,  make  up,  in  some  de 
gree,  for  the  advantages  which  it  takes  from  us  and  gives  to  the  workmen  of  foreign 
countries.  The  farmers  of  the  West  will  soon  see  that  they  have  been  deceived  by  the 
promised  British  market  for  their  agricultural  products,  and  that  instead  of  higher  prices 
they  will  find  them  reduced  with  the  prostration  of  the  home  market  hitherto  furnished 
them  by  the  manufactories  of  the  North.  Having  thus  learned  the  truth  of  the  old. 
fashioned  democratic  doctrine,  that  agriculture,  manufactures,  commerce,  and  the  mecha 
nic  arts  are  mutually  dependent  on  each  other,  we  may  expect  to  see  them  again  acting 
with  their  natural  allies  of  the  North  for  the  common  good. 

With  many  thanks,  gentlemen,  for  the  honor  you  intended  me,  I  pray  you  to  excuse 
my  acceptance  of  it.  I  shall,  some  time  before  the  re-assembling  of  Congre'ss,  pay  my 
accustomed  annual  visit  to  Columbia  county,  and  it  is  my  intention  to  spend  some  time 
about  Danville,  among  your  workmen,  and  in  your  mines  and  manufactories,  to  glean  such 


12  ADDRESS. 

facts  and  information  as  may  be  useful  in  the  next  session,  and  I  anticipate,  while  there 
the  pleasure  of  taking  many  of  you  by  the  hand,  at  your  own  firesides. 

With  sentiments  of  respect,  &c.,  &c., 

SIMON   CAMERON. 

To  Messrs.  Cooper,  Boyd,  Montgomery,  Vastine,  Donaldson,  Petriken,  McReynolds, 
Grove  and  others. 

DECLINES  TO  BE  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  GOVERNOR. 

So  handsomely  and  satisfactorily  did  Gen.  Cameron  acquit  himself  in  the 
Senate,  and  so  proudly  aloft,  above,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Admin- 
tration  clique  who  assailed  him,  had  he  placed  himself,  by  his  able  opposi 
tion  to  the  repeal  of  the  Tariff  of  1842,  that  the  Democratic  party  began  to 
turn  its  attention  to  him  as  its  candidate  for  Governor,  in  1847.  The 
Democratic  Convention  of  Northumberland  County  expressed  itself  in  his 
favor,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  solicit  him  to  consent  to  the  use  of  his 
name ;  but  he  declined  doing  so,  as  will  be  perceived  by  the  following  let 
ter  addressed  by  him  to  that  committee  : 

Middhtown,  September  26,  1846. 

GENTLEMEN  : — I  have  received  your  letter  conveying  to  me  the  resolution  of  the  De 
mocratic  Convention  of  the  County  of  Northumberland,  nominating  me  for  the  office  of 
Governor. 

I  feel  greatly  flattered  with  this  compliment,  coming  from  the  county  which  presented 
the  great  and  good  Snyder  to  the  Democracy  of  Pennsylvania,  and  conveyed  to  me  as  it  is 
by  gentlemen  who  have  known  me  from  my  earliest  boyhood.  Whether  in  private  or  in 
public  life,  every  good  man  must  be  gratified  with  evidences  of  friendship  from  those  who 
know  him  best;  and  nothing  could  be  more  grateful  to  my  feelings  than  this  compliment 
from  that  steady,  unwavering  Democratic  county.  The  Chief  Magistracy  of  this  great 
Common  wealth  is  a  post  which  the  ablest  and  proudest  citizen  might  be  glad  to  occupy. 
It  should  be  the  highest  honor  of  the  faithful  public  officer,  to  be  carried  with  him  into 
retirement  as  the  reward  of  his  services.  I  feel  that  I  have  no  claim  to  it ;  and  having 
recently  been  elevated  to  a  high  place,  mainly  to  aid  in  the  protection  of  the  interests  of 
my  native  State,  I  could  not,  in  accordance  with  my  sense  of  propriety,  desert  that  post 
while  those  interests  are  in  danger,  for  any  personal  distinction  high  or  honorable  as  it 
might  be.  I  beg  you,  therefore,  gentlemen,  to  convey  to  the  Democracy  of  Northumber 
land  my  gratitude  for  their  kindness,  and  my  respectful  declination  of  the  nomination. 
For  yourselves,  receive  the  assurance  of  my  continued  friendship. 

SIMON   CAMERON. 

To  Messrs.  Hughes,  Horton,  Nicely,  Teats,  Parker,  Maurer,  and  others,  Committee,  &c. 

His  POSITION  ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION. 

On  this  subject,  Gen.  Cameron  occupies  precisely  the  same  position 
which  John  Sergeant,  James  Buchanan,  and  all  the  other  eminent  men,  as 
•well  as  the  entire  people  of  Pennsylvania,  held  and  maintained  in  1820, 
and  have  occupied  from  the  formation  of  the  Constitution  until  the  intro 
duction  into  Congress  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  by  Judge  Douglass, 
llecognizing  all  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution,  and  willing  to  concede 
to  the  South  all  the  rights  guaranteed  to  her  by  them,  he  cannot  and  will 
not  lend  himself  to  slavery  beyond  the  requirements  of  those  compromises. 
Entertaining  these  views,  he  recognizes  the  power  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  to  restrict  slavery  within  the  limits  in  which  it  now  exists,  and  deems  it 
expedient  to  exercise  that  power  should  there  be  any  occasion  for  it.  Act 
ing  upon  this  principle,  when  in  the  Senate,  during  the  Mexican  war,  he, 
though  a  Democrat,  and  acting  generally  with  the  Administration,  made 
issue  with  it  on  this  subject,  and  voted  to  prohibit  the  spread  of  slavery 
over  the  soil  acquired  from  Mexico  by  that  war.  All  the  power  and  influ 
ence  of  the  administration  and  of  his  party  were  brought  to  bear  to  force 
him  to  pursue  a  contrary  course  ;  but,  true  to  the  old  fashioned  Democratic 
faith  of  his  native  State,  as  he  has  ever  proved  himself  on  all  other  subjects, 


ADDRESS.  13 

so  on  this  occasion,  and  on  this  subject,  he  resisted  all  the  blandishments 
of  power,  and  terror  of  party  discipline,  and  voted  in  accordance  with  his 
own  honest  convictions  and  the  well  known  and  undoubted  sentiments  of 
the  people  of  the  State  which  he  represented. 

His  speech  in  the  Senate,  on  the  1st  of  March,  1847,  just  before  giving 
his  vote  in  favor  of  the  non-extension  of  slavery  proviso  to  the  Three  Mil 
lion  Loan  Bill,  explains  in  a  very  brief  manner  his  views  on  the  subject, 
and  shows  that  he  is  no  recent  convert  to  the  cause  of  free  soil.  In  com 
mencing  his  remarks,  he  gracefully  alluded  to  the  instructions  the  Legisla 
ture  of  Pennsylvania  had  given  him  on  the  subject,  and  declared,  that  while 
he  fully  recognized  the  doctrine  of  instructions,  he  would  not  blindly  obey 
such  instructions,  on  all  occasions,  in  violation  of  his  own  honest  convic 
tions,  and  where  public  opinion  itself  was  doubtful  on  the  subject.  He 
was,  however,  relieved  from  all  embarrassment  on  this  occasion,  and  pro 
ceeded  to  speak  as  follows  : 

"  In  the  case  before  us,  there  is  no  room  for  doubt.  The  people  of  Penn 
sylvania  are  united  in  the  wish,  that  no  more  slave  territory  should  be  ac 
quired  by  this  Confederacy  \  and  they  fear  that  if  this  bill  become  a  law,  it 
will  bring  an  accession  of  slavery  with  it.  Their  resolution  is  so  clear,  that 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  three  million  bill  having  been  before  the  au 
thor  of  the  instructions,  when  they  were  penned.  They  are  in  these 
words  : 

u  i  Resolved:  That  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress  be  re 
quested  to  vote  against  any  measure  whatever,  by  which  our  territory  will 
accrue  to  the  Union,  unless,  as  a  part  of  the  fundamental  law  upon  which 
any  compact  or  treaty  for  this  purpose  is  based,  slavery  or  involuntary  ser 
vitude,  except  for  crime,  shall  be  forever  prohibited.' 

"  So  united  were  the  Legislature,  that  out  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-three 
members  in  the  two  Houses,  only  three  votes  were  recorded  against  the 
resolution.  Its  mover  in  the  Legislature  represents  the  same  county  which 
is  the  residence  of  Mr.  Wilmot,  the  originator  of  the  proviso  in  the  other 
end  of  the  Capitol.  They  are  personal  friends,  and  in  this  case  they  have 
gone  with  the  current  of  public  opinion  upon  the  abstract  question  of  ex 
tending  slavery.  Whether  it  was  wise  to  engraft  so  exciting  a  question 
upon  a  bill  claimed  by  the  Executive  as  all  important  to  a  speedy  and  hon 
orable  termination  of  the  war,  time  will  determine.  The  people  of  my 
State  will  never  interfere  with  the  constitutional  rights  of  their  southern 
brethren.  They  would  be  among  the  first  to  pour  out  their  blood  and  trea 
sure  to  sustain  the  Union,  or  to  protect  from  wrong  the  people  of  the  South 
ern  States.  No  man  there  desires  to  interfere  with  the  local  and  peculiar 
institutions  of  the  South,  but  very  many  of  them  believe  that  if  left  to 
themselves,  the  entire  southern  people  will  in  due  time,  and  in  their  own 
way,  abolish  the  entire  institution  of  slavery  ;  they  think,  too,  that  this 
great  community  of  States  may,  like  members  of  a  partnership,  before  the 
purchase  of  new  territory  with  the  common  funds  of  the  firm,  decide  among 
themselves  what  use  shall  be  made  of  the  purchase.  After  the  land  shall 
have  been  bought,  it  will,  in  their  opinion,  be  too  late  to  limit  its  uses. 
He  added  that  he  could  not  waste  the  time  of  the  Senate,  at  this  late  hour, 
near  midnight,  in  dilating  upon  this  subject." 

His  COURSE  ON  THE  OREGON  QUESTION. 

A  few  words  of  explanation  may  not  be  out  of  place,  here,  td  enable  the 
reader  the  better  to  understand  and  appreciate  Gen.  Cameron's  conduct  on 
this  question.  One  of  the  planks  of  the  Platform,  constructed  by  the  Con- 


14  ADDRESS. 

vention  which  nominated  Polk  and  Dallas,  was,  that  the  title  of  our  Gov 
ernment  to  the  whole  of  Oregon  was  clear  and  indisputable,  and  the  rally 
ing  cry  of  the  party,  during  the  campaign,  was  "  Fifty-Four-Forty,  or  Fight." 
But  it  so  happened,  when  Congress  assembled  in  December,  1846,  Messrs. 
Calhoun,  McDuffee,  Yulee,  and,  in  fact,  the  entire  cotton-growing  portion 
of  the  Administration  members  began  to  manifest  weakness  in  the  knees  on 
the  subject.  War  with  England,  and  an  abrupt  close  of  the  English  market 
for  their  cotton,  was  seriously  apprehended  by  them,  and  they  were,  there 
fore,  disposed  to  shirk  one  of  the  issues  made  by  themselves,  on  which  Mr. 
Polk  was  elected.  They  accordingly  united  with  the  Whigs,  and  passed 
resolutions  in  the  Senate,  authorizing  the  President,  at  his  discretion,  to 
give  the  British  Government  notice  of  the  intention  of  our  Government  to 
abrogate  the  treaty  for  the  joint  occupancy  of  that  Territory.  When  these 
came  up  in  the  House,  the  majority  of  that  body  amended  them  by  making 
it  obligatory  upon  the  President  to  give  the  notice.  The  Senate  refused  to 
concur  in  the  amendments  of  the  House,  and  a  Committee  of  Conference  was 
appointed. 

Well  knowing  the  character  of  the  issue  before  the  people,  on  the  Oregon 
Question,  and  their  decision  upon  it,  Gen.  Cameron  would  not  follow  in  the 
wake  of  the  cotton-growing  Senators  of  his  Party,  and  prove  recreant  to 
his  own  professions  and  those  of  the  Party  during  the  campaign.  He  acted 
on  this  question,  as  he  has  made  it  a  principle  of  all  his  actions  through 
life,  by  maintaining  good  faith  to  the  people,  and  thereby  preserving  his 
own  self-respect.  The  remarks  made  by  him,  just  before  he  voted  on  the 
resolutions  as  agreed  upon  by  the  Committee  of  Conference,  explain  his 
views,  and  were  as  follows  : — 

"  Mr.  C.  said  he  should  vote  for  the  report  of  the  committee,  and  before 
he  did  so  he  wished  to  say  a  word  or  two  in  explanation  of  his  vote.  Mr. 
C.  said  he  was  in  favor  of  a  plain  notice,  and  in  every  vote  pending  the 
termination  of  the  question,  he  had  been  with  the  friends  of  it.  Next,  he 
was  willing  to  take  the  notice  which  came  from  the  House  of  Kepresenta- 
tives,  and  had  voted  for  it.  Failing  to  get  either  of  these,  he  had  voted  for 
the  resolutions  which  had  passed  the  Senate.  He  did  so,  because  he  con 
sidered  it  more  important  to  the  interests  of  the  country,  that  the  action  of 
Congress  on  this  important  question  should  be  indicated  by  unanimity  than 
it  was  to  have  that  action  expressed  in  any  peculiar  form  ;  and  above  all, 
he  believed  that  a  speedy  settlement  of  the  impending  difficulties  between 
the  two  countries  could  only  be  had  by  terminating  the  joint  occupancy  of 
the  territory  in  dispute.  Until  a  period  was  fixed  at  which  the  state  of 
uncertainty  must  cease,  he  did  not  believe  that  the  question  of  peace  or  war 
could  be  determined.  The  President,  in  his  annual  message,  had  asked  for 
authority  to  give  the  notice  to  terminate  the  joint  occupancy,  under  the 
treaty,  and  having  full  confidence  in  his  integrity,  capacity,  and  patriotism, 
Mr.  C.  was  willing  to  trust  the  whole  question  in  his  hands. 

"  Mr.  C.  said  he  believed  fully  in  our  right  to  the  whole  country  in  dis 
pute,  that  our  title  only  terminates  where  the  Russian  line  begins  at  54° 
40' ;  but  he  did  not  think  this  the  proper  time  or  place  to  argue  the  title. 
It  could  be  better  done  by  the  Executive  in  arranging  a  treaty,  or  in  insist 
ing  upon  our  rights.  He  had  done  so  in  the  published  correspondence. 
When  a  treaty  should  be  agreed  upon  by  the  negotiators  of  the  two  coun 
tries,  the  Senate  could  revise  their  acts.  This  course  Mr.  C.  thought  would 
have  been  more  respectful  to  the  President,  and  in  the  end,  better  for  the 
country.  But  as  the  defeat  of  the  present  notice  would,  in  his  opinion,  be 
a  defeat  of  all  notice  during  the  present  session  of  Congress,  he  should  vote 
for  it  without  meaning  to  commit  himself  in  favor  of  any  treaty,  which 


ADDRESS.  15 

should   not  secure  to  the   United   States,  the  whole  of  our  just  rights  in 
Oregon." 

Soon  after  this  action  of  Congress,  the  British  Minister  was  authorized 
by  his  Government  to  propose  a  Treaty,  making  the  boundary  on  the  line 
of  49  degrees.  President  Polk,  being  so  fully  committed  to  the  51-40 
line,  yet  sympathizing  with,  and  unwilling  to  become  antagonistic  to,  the 
policy  of  the  cotton-growing  interest,  hit  upon  the  happy  expedient  of  ask 
ing  the  advice  of  the  Senate  on  the  subject.  The  Senate,  by  a  vote  of  41 
yeas  to*  14  nays,  advised  the  acceptance  of  the  proposition,  Gen.  Cameron 
voting  in  the  negative,  and  thereby  washing  his  hands  from  the  deception 
practised  upon  the  people. 

His  COURSE  ON  THE  MEXICAN  WAR. 

After  the  declaration  of  war  with  Mexico,  the  course  of  Gen.  Cameron, 
in  the  Senate,  was  to  vote  all  the  force  and  supplies  necessary  for  its  vigor 
ous  prosecution.  In  presenting  the  proceedings  of  a  meeting  of  the  citizens 
of  Philadelphia,  tendering  their  services  to  the  Government,  he  availed 
himself  of  the  occasion  to  express  his  views  in  favor  of  the  most  decisive 
possible  action  in  support  of  the  war,  as  the  most  likely  mode  of  bringing 
it  to  a  speedy  termination.  The  following  is  a  report  of  his  remarks  on  the 
occasion  : — 

"  He  said  that  there  were  twenty  thousand  persons  present ;  that  men  of 
all  parties  had  forgotten  their  political  predilections,  and  had  come  together  to 
sustain  the  country  io  its  emergency.  The  meeting  had  been  held  within 
sight  of  the  building  in  which  was  signed  that  great  charter  of  human 
rights,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ;  and  he  was  glad  to  say  that  the 
spirit  of  '76  still  remained  there.  Louisiana  had  first  stepped  out  nobly 
to  offer  her  troops  and  her  money  to  aid  the  country  in  the  approaching 
contest ;  and  he  felt  proud  of  the  spectacle  presented  by  the  great  city  of 
his  native  State,  assembling  her  sons,  without  a  dissenting  voice,  to  sustain 
the  constituted  authorities  in  their  vindication  of  the  rights  and  the  honor 
of  the  nation.  Pennsylvania,"  he  said,  "  had  a  muster-roll  of  two  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand  intelligent  and  hardy  militia,  and  she  has  a  volunteer 
force  of  thirty-two  thousand  men,  armed,  equipped,  and  drilled,  ready  for 
the  field — every  one  of  whom,  he  pledged  himself,  would  be  ready  to  march 
at  the  first  tap  of  the  drum,  if  the  country  should  need  their  services.  He 
would  not  detract  from  the  merits  of  other  States,  all  of  whom  would  strive 
to  be  foremost  in  the  race  of  patriotism;  but  if  the  war  should  continue, 
lie  ventured  to  say  that  the  unpretending  State  which  he  had  the  honor  in 
part  to  represent  would,  as  she  had  twice  done  before,  give  more  men  and 
money  to  the  cause  of  the  common  country  than  ever  was  given  by  any 
other  State  in  the  Union.  No  man  would,  in  that  State,  inquire  about  the 
cause  of  war,  but  would  all  join  the  standard  of  the  country,  to  bring  to  it 
a  speedy  and  honorable  termination.  Pennsylvania  would  show  to  the 
world  that  she  had  in  her  mountains  and  in  her  valleys  '  coal  enough  to 
warm  all  her  friends,  and  iron  enough  to  cool  the  enemies  of  her  country.'" 

BOUNTY  TO  THE  VOLUNTEERS  IN  MEXICO. 

Gen.  Cameron,  as  early  as  Dec.  9,  1846,  introduced  a  resolution  in  the 
Senate,  which  was  adopted,  instructing  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs 
to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  granting  160  acres  of  land  to  each  non 
commissioned  ofiicer,  musician,  and  private  soldier,  who  volunteered  to  serve 
during  the  war  with  Mexico,  and  also  of  increasing  the  compensation 


16  ADDRESS. 

allowed  by  the  War  Department  for  the  transportation  and  subsistence  of  the 
volunteer  troops  from  their  homes  to  the  places  of  rendezvous  in  their  dif 
ferent  States.  In  offering  this  resolution,  he  made  the  following  re 
marks  ; — 

"  He  said  that  the  reason  for  his  asking  of  the  Senate  its  early  action  on 
this  resolution  was,  that  the  volunteers  in  the  Pennsylvania  regiment,  which 
was  the  first  regiment  ready  for  service  under  the  late  call  from  the  War 
Department,  are  now  on  their  march.  The  compensation  allowed  to  volun 
teers  on  their  way  to  the  place  of  rendezvous  was  entirely  insufficient  to 
enable  them  to  reach  their  destination,  it  being  only  about  fifty  cents  for 
every  twenty  miles.  Some  of  these  volunteers  live  as  much  as  two  or  three 
hundred  miles  from  the  point  where  they  are  required.  They  are  destitute 
of  means  of  their  own,  and  but  for  the  kindness  exhibited  by  their  fellow- 
citizens  would  not  have  been  able  to  proceed  on  their  march.  A  great  portion 
of  the  troops  are  now  on  the  road,  and  he  hoped  that  the  Committee  on 
Military  Affairs  would  take  early  action  on  the  subject." 

Gen.  Cameron  perseveringly  continued,  on  all  proper  occasions,  to  urge 
the  adoption  of  this  measure,  and  to  his  active  efforts  in  its  support  are 
those  who  served  in  Mexico  mainly  indebted  for  its  final  adoption. 

His  SUPPORT  OF  THE  TARIFF  OF  1842. 

The  remarks  already  given,  which  have  been  taken  from  his  great  speeca, 
delivered  in  the  Senate,  July  22,  1846,  than  which  no  abler  was  made  on 
the  subject,  are  abundantly  sufficient  to  show  the  very  able  and  earnest 
resistance  he  made  to  the  repeal  of  the  Tariff  of  1842.  Finding,  however, 
when  the  bill  was  ordered  to  a  third  reading,  by  the  casting  vote  of  Vice 
President  Dallas,  and  that  all  hope  of  its  defeat  was  thus  cut  off  by  the 
recreant  hand  of  a  Pennsylvanian,  he  arose,  just  before  the  bill  was  put  on 
its  final  passage,  and  made  a  solemn  and  most  emphatic  protest  against  the 
great  wrong  about  being  perpetrated,  by  addressing  the  Senate  as  follows  : 

Mr.  Cameron  said,  "  He  rose  only  to  repeat  his  opposition  to  this  bill,  to 
enter  his  solemn  protest  against  its  passage,  and  to  give  notice  that  the  word 
1  Repeal,'  will  this  day  go  forth  and  continue  until  the  loud  voice  of  the 
laborers  of  the  North  shall  compel  their  oppressors  to  respect  them.  This 
(he  said)  was  no  Bank  question,  in  which  the  rich  capitalists  only  were  con 
cerned.  Here  will  be  found  the  laborers  and  mechanics  roused  to  indigna 
tion  against  those  who  care  not  how  much  they  rob  them  of  their  comforts 
in  the  pursuit  of  a  wild  abstraction. 

"If  the  bill  had  been  made  by  a  British  statesman,  it  could  not  have  dis 
criminated  more  in  favor  of  the  English  workmen,  nor  have  done  more 
wrong  to  our  mechanics  and  manufacturers.  He  repeated,  that  from  hence 
forth  repeal  would  be  the  word  among  the  Democracy  of  the  North,  and 
that  it  would  not  cease  until  it  triumphed." 

THE  KANE  LETTER  DECEPTION. 

In  presenting,  on  July  18th,  1846,  the  proceedings  of  a  Democratic  meet 
ing  at  Sunbury,  Pennsylvania,  expressing  opposition  to  the  repeal  of  the 
Tariff  of  1842,  Gen.  Cameron  said: 

"  The  panic  of  which  honorable  Senators  spoke  the  other  day  had  commenced, 
and  was  spreading  in  every  part  of  that  Commonwealth.  But  this  was  no  Whig 
panic.  It  was  a  Democratic  panic.  The  county  in  which  this  meeting  was  held 
is  a  Democratic  county.  It  gives  about  2500  votes,  and  a  majority  to  the 


ADDRESS.  17 

Democratic  party,  in  great  contests,  of  near  1200.  Northampton  county, 
another  decided  Democratic  county,  was  here  protesting  against  the  passage 
of  the  Tariff  bill ;  these  people,  these  Democrats,  feared  that  its  passage 
would  destroy  their  business,  prostrate  the  Democratic  party,  and  beggar 
their  families.  Such  fears  might  cause  a  panic  with  the  honest  and  best. 
Good  'Old  Berks,'  is  here  also  by  a  representation  of  her  SODS.  That 
county  is  the  stronghold  of  Democracy.  Of  her  10,000  votes,  she  gives 
often  a  Democratic  majority  of  4,000.  Her  citizens  are  a  steady,  industrious 
people,  who  are  not  easily  excited.  They  are  generally  agriculturists,  who 
are  content  with  their  peaceful  employment,  and  whose  industry  and  frugality 
have  made  them  rich.  No  common  danger  would  alarm  her;  but  situated 
as  she  is  on  the  verge  of  the  great  coal-field  of  Pennsylvania,  she  has  daily 
evidences  of  the  comfort  and  happiness  its  mines  dispense  among  the  laborers 
and  mechanics  of  the  country  round  about,  and  of  the  wealth  which  it  has 
sent  among  them  in  exchange  for  the  products  of  their  farms.  No  one  can 
charge  them  with  aiding  in  a  '  Whig  panic.'  Their  Democracy  is  un 
doubted  and  beyond  reproach.  It  is  known  throughout  the  Union  ;  and 
thrice  has  it  saved  the  Democratic  party  of  the  Union.  Her  sons  come  here 
not  to  create  a  panic,  but  to  speak  with  Democrats  in  the  Senate,  and  in 
other  high  places;  as  Democrats  may  speak  to  those  whom  by  their  votes 
they  have  elevated;  to  tell  them  how  this  new  principle  in  legislation  will 
affect  their  interests,  and  to  get  Democrats  here  to  pause  before  they  ruin 
our  great  State,  and  take  from  our  laboring  people,  who  cannot  come  here, 
their  employment,  and  from  their  families  their  bread.  Such  a  panic  as  the 
passage  of  this  bill  will  create,  would,  he  repeated,  be  no  '  Whig  panic.' 
He  said  that  we  had  heard,  in  a  recent  discussion,  remarks  in  favor  of  the 
claims  of  Tennessee  for  money  due  her  citizens.  The  claims  of  Massachu 
setts  had  also  been  spoken  of;  and  claims  due  Georgia  and  New  Hampshire 
had  been  urged,  and  some  of  them  paid.  Pennsylvania,  he  was  proud  to 
say,  had  no  claims  upon  the  treasury  of  the  Union  ;  she  asked  for  no  help 
from  the  treasury ;  she  was  willing  to  work  for  her  living,  and  asked  only  to 
be  let  alone." 

Mr.  Webster  made  some  comments  on  the  subject.  He  said  he  had  been 
in  Pennsylvania  in  October,  1844,  and  the  three  favorites  he  had  seen  en- 
blazoned  on  the  banners  of  the  Democratic  party  were,  Polk,  Dallas,  and 
the  Tariff  of  1842.  He  would  ask  Mr.  Cameron  whether  he  had  not  seen 
these  banners  ? 

MR.  CAMERON  :  "I  answer  the  Senator  with  great  pleasure,  I  attended 
perhaps  every  Democratic  meeting  within  my  reach  in  that  State — and  some  of 
them  were  at  places  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  distant  from  my  home — in 
order  to  support  the  great  cause  of  Democracy,  and  at  all  these  meetings 
the  watchwords  and  the  mottoes  were,  *  Polk,'  l  Dallas'  and  (before  his 
lamented  death)  '  Muhlenburg,'  and  'The  Tariff  of  1842.'  And  after 
the  death  of  our  candidate  for  the  gubernatorial  chair,  they  were  '  Polk/ 
<  Dallas,'  '  ShunJe,'  and  the  'Tariff  of  1842.'  Neither  of  the  three,  sir, 
would  have  got  the  vote  of  Pennsylvania  without  the  last,  '  The  Tariff  of 
1842. '  Much  as  we  disliked  Mr.  Clay,  and  sincerely  attached  as  we  were 
to  the  Democratic  party,  all  would  have  gone  before  we  would  have  relin 
quished  'The  Tariff  of  1842.'" 

The  following  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  U.  S.  Senate,  July  23, 1846, 
copied  from  the  National  Intelligencer,  shows  the  fraud  practised  upon  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1844,  by  those  who  presented  James' K  Polk  as 
the  friend  of  the  protection  of  Home  Labor,  and  subsequently  united  with  him 
in  making  war  upon  the  Tariff  of  1842.  Those  proceedings  also  show,  that 
Gen.  Cameron  was  not  one  of  these  traitors  to  the  interests  of  the  American 
3 


18  ADDRESS. 

Laborers,  but  that  he  ably  and  fearlessly  exposed  the  fraud,  and  vindicated 
the  working  men  of  his  State  from  the  slanderous  attacks  made  upon  them. 
The  following  memorials  and  petitions  were  presented  and  appropriately 
referred : 

Mr.  CAMERON  :  Various  petitions  from  Philadelphia,  Carbon,  Luzerne,  and  Schuylkill 
counties,  signed  by  persons  engaged  in  the  coal  and  iron  business,  against  any  alteration 
in  the  tariff  laws.  Also,  the  proceedings  of  a  meeting  held  in  Norristown,  against  the 
passage  of  the  tariff  bill. 

Mr.  C.  said  these  petitions  were  all  from  persons  actually  engaged  in  the  business,  and 
they  fe;ir  the  entire  destruction  of  their  business.  In  proof  of  what  he  had  said  the  other 
day,  that  these  petitions  were  from  Democrats,  he  stated  that  every  county  from  which 
they  had  come,  had  given  a  Democratic  majority  in  1844.  To  prove  this  further,  he 
gave  in  detail  the  Democratic  majorities  of  the  coal  and  iron  counties  of  Pennsylvania  : — 

Berks  county  gave  Polk  a  majority  of        ...         .         .  4,678 

Centre  co.                    "  "  ......  728 

Columbia  co.              "  "  .,   .'    .         ..         .         .  1,629 

Clarion  co.                  "  "  .         .         .         .         .  826 

Lycoming  co.            "  "  .....  G17 

Monroe  co.                 "  "  .                  ,         .         .  1,394 

Northumberland  co.  "  "                  945 

Northampton  co.        "  "                      1,089 

Perry  co.                     "  "  ....  990 

Schuylkill  co.             "  "                      847 

Venange  co.                "  "  ....  922 

14,665 

The  whole  Democratic  majority  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  was  something  over 
5,000  ;  and  it  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  these  counties  sustain  the  Democracy  of  the 
State. 

The  town  of  Norristown  was  riot  in  the  coal  or  iron  region.  It  was  a  manufacturing 
town,  and  owed  much  of  its  prosperity  to  the  large  cotton  manufactories  which  had  sprung 
up  under  our  tariff  laws,  and  which  gave  to  its  neighborhood  a  market  for  its  agricul 
tural  products.  In  1840  its  population  was  about  2,500 — it  now  contains  over  5,000. 
Montgomery  county  gives  a  large  and  decided  Democratic  majority. 

Mr.  SEVIER  said  he  was  sorry  to  see  the  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  engaged  in  panic- 
making  this  morning  ;  but,  to  do  the  Senator  justice,  he  must  say  that  he  did  it  with  a 
pleasant  smile,  as  though  it  was  a  first-rate  good  joke.  They  had  heard  a  good  deal  about 
coincidences;  there  was  something  like  a  coincidence  in  the  course  of  proceeding  here; 
the  first  thing  upon  the  meeting  of  the  Senate  was  to  have  prayers  by  the  Chaplain,  then 
the  reading  of  the  journal,  and  next  an  hour  and  a-half  was  to  be  consumed  in  reciting 
a  sort  of  FUNERAL  DIRGE  FROM  THE  PENSIONERS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 
He  had  sat  quietly  and  patiently,  hitherto,  while  all  this  was  going  on,  because  the  Sena 
tor  himself  seemed  to  treat  the  matter  as  an  excellent  joke.  Was  there  a  man  in  Penn 
sylvania,  he  would  ask,  was  there  a  single  man  of  intelligence  in  that  State  who  DID  NOT 
at  the  time  of  the  last  Presidential  election,  KNOW  PERFECTLY  WELL  what  the  opinions  of 
Mr.  Polk  were  in  regard  to  the  Tariff?  Was  THERE  A  MAN  WHO  DID  NOT 
KNOW  THAT  HE  WAS  A  FREE  TRADE  MAN  ? 

[Mr.  ARCHER  :  They  thought  him  a  better  tariff  man  than  Mr.  Clay.] 

No  State  had  been  more  thoroughgoing  than  Pennsylvania  in  her  opposition  to  char 
tered  privileges.  Yet  they  were  now  told  that  unless  this  high  protective  act  of  1842 
remained,  they  were  going  to  be  entirely  ruined.  Did  Pennsylvania  expect  other  States 
to  pay  her  debts?  No — such  were  not  their  good  old  Dutch  democratic  principles.  He 
had  heard  it  said  that  under  the  Act  of  1842,  one  man,  formerly  a  journeyman  black 
smith,  in  Pennsylvania,  had  as  many  as  nine  hundred  laborers  in  his  employment.  How 
many  would  he  have  if  left  to  go  on  two  or  three  years  longer  at  that  rate  ?  He  would 
soon  have  the  control  of  every  man  in  the  State.  If  in  two  years  time  this  journeyman 
blacksmith  had  raised  a  force  of  nine  hundred  men,  how  long  would  it  take  him  to  get 
under  his  power  and  authority  the  whole  State  ?  Pennsylvania  had  made  no  complaints 
heretofore.  He  believed  she  never  had  been  and  never  would  be  any  other  than  Demo- 
cratic. 

Mr.  CAMERON  rose,  and  in  reply  to  the  remarks  of  the  Senator  from  Arkansas,  said 
that  he  always  smiled  when  his  friend,  the  Senator  from  Arkansas,  addressed  the  Senate 
on  this  subject.  His  wit  was  so  irresistible  that  it  excited  his  risible  faculties,  no  matter 
how  sober  the  mood  in  which  it  found  him.  But  he  could  not  permit  his  friend  to  charge 


ADDRESS.  19 

his  State  or  her  citizens  with  being  dependants  or  pensioners  on  the  Government.  They 
were  not  like  Arkansas,  and  other  States  that  he  could  name,  that  were  constantly  ap 
pealing  to  Congress  for  aid  from  the  public  Treasury  ;  for  whose  benefit  some  twenty 
bills  were  now  on  our  files  asking  for  aid;  and  for  whose  benefit  they  had  been  called 
upon  only  yesterday  for  some  $50,000,  without  even  a  voucher,  except  the  assertion  that 
the  money  had  been  drawn  for  and  expended.  The  Senator  from  Arkansas,  he  said,  also 
did  him  injustice  in  quoting  his  remarks  of  yesterday.  He  did  not  say  that  a  single  per 
son  in  Pennsylvania  controlled  nine  hundred  workmen.  The  workmen  of  that  State 
were  not  controlled  by  their  employers.  They  were  Freemen,  and  they  could  stand  erect 
before  their  God,  without  being  controlled  by  any  one.  The  Senator  from  Arkansas  has 
in  this  much  mistaken  the  character  of  these  petitioners,  when  he  compared  them  to  the 
slave  labor  of  the  South.  The  laborers  of  Pennsylvania  were  white  men — thev  were 
freemen — they  were  intelligent  men,  and  they  ask  no  favors  from  the  Government  but  to 
be  let  alone  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  labor. 

The  Senator  from  Arkansas  had  charged  him  (Mr.  C.  said)  with  acting  on  this  ques 
tion  with  the  Whig  Senator  from  Massachusetts.  He  admitted  that  on  this  question  thev 
were  together;  but  he  would  remind  that  honorable  Senator  of  what  seemed  to  have 
escaped  his  memory — that  he  arid  the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts  had  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder  on  a  question  which  was,  perhaps,  of  still  greater  magnitude  than 
this;  one  which  dismembered  the  nation — which  took  from  this  country  and  gave  to  the 
British  nation  several  degrees  of  latitude  in  the  Oregon  country.  He  wished  his  friend 
to  reconcile  that  coalition  before  he  charged  other  Senators  with  acting  in  the  company 
of  Whigs.  He  (Mr.  C.)  was  acting  with  the  Democracy  of  his  own  State,  and  he  de 
sired  to  learn  no  new  democracy  from  gentlemen  who  compared  his  laboring  fellow-citi 
zen  with  the  negro  laborers  of  the  South. 

The  debate  was  continued,  and  considerable  sparring  took  place  between 
Messrs.  Crittenden,  Sevier,  and  Keverdy  Johnson,  when  it  was  closed  by  the 
following : — 

Mr.  STURGEON  said  he  had  not  intended  to  say  a  word  in  relation  to  this  subject,  but  he 
felt  constrained  to  make  a  single  remark,  which  was,  the  Tariff  of  1842  certainly  en 
tered  into  the  contest  at  the  Presidential  election;  but  it  was  not  the  only  question  which 
entered  into  that  contest,  nor  was  it  the  most  prominent.  He  had  never  considered  Mr. 
Polk  a  free  trade  man,  in  the  broad  sense  of  the  term,  and  most  undoubtedly  the  people 
of  Pennsylvania,  under  the  construction  given  to  the  Kane  letter,  considered  him  a  tariff 
man,  so  far  as  to  give  protection  to  the  manufacturing  and  commercial  interests  of  the 
country.  His  own  doctrine  in  regard  to  the  tariff,  and  he  believed  it  was  the  Democratic 
doctrine  of  Pennsylvania,  was  a  tariff  for  revenue,  with  discrimination  for  protection. 
He  was  not  certain  that  the  Tariff  of  1842  was  the  right  tariff,  but  he  was  not  for  chang 
ing  it  at  a  time  when  they  were  under  the  necessity  of  borrowing  money  to  supply  the  wants 
of  the  Government. 

Mr.  J.  M.  CLAYTON  desired  to  know  from  the  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  whether  he 
believed  that  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  would  have  voted  for  Mr.  Polk  if  it  had  been  sup. 
posed  that  he  would  recommend  the  passage  of  such  a  bill  as  this  ? 

Mr.  STURGEON  replied  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  tell  how  a  majority  would  have 
voted  in  such  a  case. 

Mr.  CLAYTON:  I  ask  the  gentleman's  opinion. 

Mr.  STURGEON  :  There  are  between  three  and  four  hundred  thousand  voters  in  Penn 
sylvania  ;  how  many  would  have  voted  for  Mr.  Polk  under  this  view  of  the  case,  and  how 
many  would  not,  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  for  me  to  say. 

Mr.  CLAYTON:  The  honorable  Senator  will  not  give  it  as  his  opinion,  then,  that  the 
State  would  have  gone  for  Mr.  Polk.  I  think  the  honorable  Senator  is  right  not  to  ven 
ture  such  an  opinion.  I  think  no  intelligent  man  would  venture  such  an  opinion.  There 
were  undoubtedly  other  questions  entering  iiito  the  Presidential  contest  besides  the  tariff. 
But  I  think  that  no  man  knows  better  than  the  honorable  Senator  himself  that  it  was 
upon  this  great  and  absorbing  question  chiefly  that  the  election  turned. 

Not  deterred  by  the  sneers  and  jibes  of  Senator  Sevier,  he  took  occasion 
again,  July  25th,  1846,  in  presenting  the  proceedings  of  a  Democratic 
meeting  in  Wyoming  valley,  to  explain  the  character  of  that  meeting.  He 
said : — 

"  That  he  had  presented  many  petitions  and  memorials  from  the 
laborers  in  the  coal  mines,  and  at  the  iron  establishments  of  his 
State.  This  voice  came  from  a  different  quarter.  The  panic  of 


20  ADDRESS. 

which  gentlemen  spoke  the  other  day,  had  passed  over  the  moun 
tains,  and  reached  the  peaceful  valley  of  Wyoming.  The  gentlemen 
who  took  part  in  the  meeting  were,  many  of  them,  men  retired  from  busi 
ness,  who  had  no  interest  in  the  question,  except  that  which  every  good 
man  has  in  the  prosperity  of  those  around  him.  The  President  of  the 
meeting,  Mr.  Hollenback,  was  the  son  of  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  the 
valley.  He  was  a  Democrat,  honored  and  respected  by  all  around  him. 
den.  Ross,  one  of  the  Vice  Presidents,  was  the  son  of  one  of  the  early 
defenders  of  the  soil  which  the  son  inherits,  whose  youthful  blood  was 
freely  spilled  in  achieving  our  liberties,  and  he  is  a  man  so  pure  that  no 
one  dare  assail  him.  Judge  Kidder,  another  of  them,  is  a  man  of  learning, 
who,  for  his  virtues,  was  exalted  to  the  head  of  one  of  our  judicial  districts. 
Ajl  of  them  are  men  admired  and  beloved  in  their  neighborhood  ;  and  all 
of  them  have  been  honored  with  public  trust  by  the  Democratic  party. 
Wilkesbarre  is  the  residence  of  Hendrick  B.  Wright,  the  President  of  the 
Baltimore  Convention,  of  which  so  much  has  been  said  here  in  connection 
with  the  passage  of  this  bill.  Mr.  Wright  took  part  in  the  meeting,  made 
a  speech,  and  united  fully  in  the  proceedings.  His  Democracy,  certainly, 
will  not  be  doubted,  while  all  men  admit  the  efficient  part  he  took  in  the 
Baltimore  Convention.  These  proceedings  tell  you  plainly,  that  the  nomi 
nees  of  the  party  could  not  have  succeeded  in  1844,  if  it  had  not  have 
been  believed  they  would  be  friendly  to  the  labor  and  industry  of  the  coun 
try.  They  tell  you,  too,  in  plain  language,  that  the  vote  of  Pennsylvania 
would  not  have  been  given  to  them  without  this  belief.  They  tell  you,  too, 
of  the  danger  of  arousing  the  indignation  of  the  Democracy  of  that  great 
State.  He  repeated  that  he  wished  Senators  to  listen  to  this  voice  from  the 
Democracy  of  the  North." 

His  EFFORTS  TO  AMEND  THE  TARIFF  OF  1846. 

On  the  5th  of  January,  1847,  Gen.  Cameron  submitted  a  resolution, 
directing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  report  on  what  articles  embraced 
in  the  Tariff  of  1846  the  duties  could  be  increased  beyond  existing  rates  so 
as  to  augment  the  revenue,  to  what  extent  the  duties  would  be  increased, 
and  what  additional  revenue  would  accrue  therefrom.  He  gave  his  reasons, 
at  some  length,  for  offering  this  resolution,  pointing  out  the  glaring  defects 
of  the  existing  tariff  law,  and  how  these  might  be  remedied.  Senator 
Breese,  of  Illinois,  undertook  to  lecture  Gen.  Cameron  for  the  course  pur 
sued  by  him,  which  brought  the  latter  again  to  his  feet,  and  elicited  from 
him  the  following  tart  reply: — 

"  Mr.  Cameron,  in  reply  to  the  honorable  Senator  from  Illinois,  said  he 
was  somewhat  surprised  at  his  remarks.  For  himself,  he  would  only  say, 
that  he  had  not  followed  the  example  of  that  Senator  in  making  long  and 
useless  speeches.  He  had  troubled  the  Senate  only  when  he  had  something 
to  say;  and  hereafter,  whenever  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  address  the  Senate,  he 
should  do  so,  though  he  might  receive  the  admonitory  reproof  of  that  very 
learned  and  distinguished  Senator.  In  the  present  case,  he  only  wanted  a 
plain  answer,  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  a  plain  question.  He 
was  willing  to  admit  the  ability  of  that  high  officer,  and  he  was  anxious  to 
get  his  opinion  upon  a  subject  which  greatly  interested  the  people  of  his 
State;  and  when  it  is  procured,  he  will  be  happy  if  the  Secretary  should 
receive  the  aid  of  the  very  able  Senator  from  Illinois.  He  was  particularly 
anxious  to  have  such  information  on  this  subject  as  would  enable  us  to  pro 
vide  a  revenue  to  conduct  this  war  efficiently.  His  State  felt  deeply  inte 
rested  in  having  the  army  well  supplied.  His  friends — his  neighbors  and 


ADDRESS.  21 

constituents — has  filled  its  ranks.  She  had  not  oniy  given  the  regiment 
called  for,  but  she  had  added  a  second,  and  she  had  even  sent  a  company  of 
fine  young  men  to  fill  up  the  quota  of  chivalrous  Virginia.  Of  the  five 
thousand  men  enlisted  last  year,  she  had  furnished  three  thousand  from  her 
citizens." 

The  resolution  was  adopted,  and  there  the  matter  ended.  No  further 
action  was  had  during  the  remainder  of  the  session,  which  closed  March  4, 
1847.  At  the  next  session,  on  the  2d  of  February,  1849,  he  took  occasion, 
in  presenting  several  hundred  petitions  asking  for  an  increase  of  the  tariff, 
to  express  his  opinion  on  the  subject.  He  referred  to  the  distress  brought 
upon  the  manufacturing  and  mining  districts,  and  expressed  himself  as 
follows: — 

"On  the  necessity  of  protection  to  the  great  interests  of  Pennsylvania, 
my  mind  has  undergone  no  change.  The  development  of  our  manufactures 
and  our  mines,  with  the  markets  their  products  have  furnished  to  our  farm 
ers,  has  given  our  great  State  the  high  position  it  holds  in  the  Union.  They 
have  filled  our  mountains  and  our  valleys  with  an  industrious  and  happy 
people,  and  they  will,  if  properly  encouraged,  every  year  add  to  our  wealth 
and  our  happiness.  We  were  told  last  fall,  that  when  the  election  was  over, 
if  the  Whig  party  should  succeed,  a  change  would  take  place,  arid  we  should 
get  back  the  Tariff  of  1842.  Well,  there  is  a  majority  in  the  other  House — 
where  a  tariff  bill  only  can  originate — of  that  party;  and,  although  the  ses 
sion  has  two  of  the  three  months  allotted  to  it  already  consumed,  no  bill  has 
come  here  which  hints  at  a  change  in  the  system.  I  desire  to  make  no 
charges  of  neglect,  but  to  say  that  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  co-operate  with 
them  in  modifying  the  Tariff  of  1846  as  soon  as  they  shall  give  me  an 
opportunity.  I  shall  go  with  them,  as  far  as  any  gentleman  here,  to  give 
proper  protection  to  all  the  great  interests  of  the  country.5' 

THE  LECOMPTON  CONSTITUTION. 

When  this  measure  was  before  the  Senate,  April  30,  1858,  Gen.  Cameron, 
before  recording  his  vote  against  it,  spoke  as  follows: — 

"  Before  the  vote  is  taken,  I  desire  to  say  a  word  or  two  in  relation  to  my 
own  course.  It  was  my  intention,  at  an  early  part  of  the  session,  to  say 
something  upon  the  general  subject  of  Kansas  affairs;  but  I  am,  as  you  all 
know,  not  much  of  a  speaker,  having  but  little  capacity  that  way,  and  no 
taste  for  it.  I  often  felt  disposed  to  take  a  part  in  the  debate,  but  when  I 
proposed  to  do  so,  I  deferred  to  others;  and  sometimes,  when  I  felt  like 
going  on,  I  found  that  some  gentleman  was  discussing  the  question  better 
than  I  could  hope  to  do.  I  rise  at  this  time  only  to  say  that  I  disapprove 
of  the  proposition  now  before  the  Senate,  much  more  than  I  did  of  the  ori 
ginal  attempt  to  force  on  the  people  of  Kansas  a  constitution  which  they 
were  unwilling  to  take.  The  original  bill  was  a  plain  proposition,  for  which 
men  might  have  voted  honestly,  without  subjecting  their  motives  to  censure. 
This  I  look  upon  as  a  very  different  affair.  This,  to  my  mind,  is  a  trick  to 
impose  upon  weak  men,  or  to  enable  corrupt  men  to  make  the  impression 
upon  their  constituents  at  home  that  they  have  been  acting  honestly.  Still, 
I  should  have  said  nothing  on  this  subject  now,  if  my  respected  colleague 
had  not  been  in  such  hot  haste  to  announce  to  the  Senator  from  New  York, 
while  he  was  discussing  the  proposition,  that  the  vote  had  been  carried  in 
the  other  House,  against  the  wishes  of  the  freemen  of  Kansas.  His  act 
was  so  different  from  what  I  expected  from  an  honorable  Senator  from  Penn 
sylvania,  that  I  was  surprised  at  it.  I  have  always,  heretofore,  understood 
that  no  man  in  the  whole  State  of  Pennsylvania  was  more  positive  and  decided 


22  ADDRESS. 

in  the  expression  of  his  belief,  before  his  election,  that  the  people  of  Kansas 
would  not  only  be  a  free  State,  but  that  she  should  not  have  a  State  Consti 
tution  at  all  unless  it  should  be  voted  for  by  a  majority  of  her  citizens.  His 
whole  course  in  life,  until  he  came  here,  was  in  favor  of  freemen  and  of  the 
free  labor  of  the  Northern  States.  His  own  history  was  such  as  naturally 
to  make  him  an  advocate  of  freemen  and  free  labor.  Why  he  has  changed 
his  course  here,  is  no  business  of  mine;  but  it  does  seem  to  me  to  be  in  bad 
taste  that  he  should  act  as  he  does,  knowing,  as  he  certainly  does,  that  not 
only  the  whole  Opposition  party  in  Pennsylvania,  but  a  very  large  majority 
of  the  party  to  which  he  belongs  in  that  State,  are  opposed  to  the  measure, 
and  opposed  to  the  conduct  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  regard 
to  it;  and  I  cannot  permit  him  to  come  here  and  make  the  impression  that 
he  believes  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  are  in  favor  of  it;  nor  can  I  remain 
quiet,  much  as  I  dislike  to  talk  in  public,  when  the  impression  is  attempted 
to  be  made  that  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  are  with  him  or  with  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  upon  this  subject.  If  the  vote  were  to  be  taken 
to-morrow,  the  people  of  Pennsylvania,  by  a  majority  of  a  hundred  thousand, 
would  decide  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  had  deceived  them  in 
regard  to  this  matter,  and  would  prove,  also,  that  my  colleague  is  misrepre 
senting  his  constituents  on  this  great  question. 

"  The  people  of  Pennsylvania  are  conservative,  and  on  all  questions  con 
nected  with  slavery  they  have  always  taken  a  moderate  course ;  but,  sir,  I 
tell  you  that  if  any  man,  who  was  in  their  confidence  in  the  year  1856, 
could  have  convinced  them  that,  by  any  possible  means,  a  constitution  could  be 
forced  upon  the  people  of  Kansas,  in  opposition  to  their  wishes,  and  with 
out  a  vote  of  the  people,  Mr.  Buchanan  could  never  have  received  the 
electoral  vote  of  Pennsylvania.  He  owes  it  to  the  conduct  of  himself  and 
the  active  influence  of  his  friends  all  over  the  State,  asserting  that  by  na 
ture  Kansas  must  be  free,  and  that  no  man  would  dare,  no  matter  what  his 
position  was,  to  attempt  to  put  upon  her  a  constitution  unless  her  people 
had  the  free  and  full  right  to  vote  for  or  against  it.  The  President  himself 
thought  so  until  lately.  Everybody  knows  that  so  late  as  the  7th  of 
July  last,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  a  distinguished  man  in  Kansas,  telling  him 
that  the  constitution  must  be  submitted  to  the  people  of  the  Territory  for 
their  fair  and  free  vote,  or  it  would  not  be  adopted  or  sanctioned  by  the  Go 
vernment. 

"  I  repeat  that  I  do  not  now  desire  to  occupy  the  time  of  the  Senate, 
now.  I  am  desirous  that  the  vote  shall  be  taken.  A  majority,  by  some 
means  or  other,  has  decided  against  us  in  the  other  House ;  the  major 
ity  here  we  know  is  against  us,  and  it  is  idle  to  talk  when  a  strong  majority 
will  vote  against  us/' 

His  SUPPORT  OF  RIVER  AND  HARBOR  IMPROVEMENTS. 

Gen.  Cameron's  political  principles,  to  use  his  own  language  on  one  oc 
casion,  "have  always  been  in  favor  of  the  American  System/'  While  in 
the  Senate,  all  his  votes  were  not  only  in  favor  of  encouraging  Home  Labor, 
but  of  promoting  the  cause  of  internal  improvements.  He  uniformly  sup 
ported  bills,  by  his  influence  and  vote,  for  the  improvement  of  our  Rivers 
and  Harbors. 

MAINTAINING  THE  RIGHT  or  PETITION. 

Gen.  Cameron  has  ever  been  the  consistent  advocate  of  tne  rights  of  the 
people,  and  during  the  long  continued  opposition  of  the  party  to  which  he 


ADDRESS.  23 

belonged,  to  reception  of  petitions  in  Congress  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  he 
steadily  maintained  and  contended  for  the  right  of  the  people  to  be  heard, 
by  their  servants,  on  all  subjects.  All  his  votes  while  in  the  Senate  were 
in  favor  of  the  reception  of  these  petitions,  and  against  the  unrepublican 
and  tyrannical  course  of  the  representatives  of  slavery  on  this  subject. 

FAVORING  THE  ABOLITION  OF  FLOGGING  IN  THE  NAVY. 

Averse  to  tyranny  in  all  its  forms,  and  sympathizing  strongly  with  the 
brave  tars  in  the  Naval  Service,  who  were  but  too  often  unjustly  and  in 
humanly  flogged,  he  took  a  decided  part  in  the  Senate  in  favor  of  the  aboli 
tion  of  that  barbarous  practice.  While  humanity  is  lifting  up  her  voice 
for  every  other  class,  he  was  unwilling  that  the  poor  sailor  alone  should  be 
unprotected  from  tyranny,  and  he  enthusiastically  espoused  his  cause,  and 
came  to  his  rescue. 

His  ADVOCACY  OF  A  SYSTEM  OF  CHEAP  POSTAGE. 

A  system  of  Cheap  Postage,  and  the  free  circulation  by  mail,  of  the 
newspapers  in  the  counties  in  which  they  are  published,  has  ever  been  a  fa 
vorite  policy  with  Gen.  Cameron,  and  he  actively  exerted  himself,  and  suc 
cessfully  to  some  extent,  in  establishing  such  a  system. 

His  SUPPORT  OF  THE  IRISH  AND  SCOTCH  RELIEF  BILL. 

The  Bill  introduced  in  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Crittenden,  in  1847,  providing 
for  some  relief  to  the  famishing  people  of  Ireland  and  Scotland,  received 
his  earnest  support.  To  the  calls  of  humanity  from  whatever  source  they 
may  come,  his  sympathies  are  ever  alive  and  ready  to  respond  with  a  liberal 
hand. 

His  REMARKS  ABOUT  THE  RETIRED  NAVAL  OFFICERS. 

On  the  13th  of  January,  1858,  while  the  subject  of  the  dropped  and  re 
tired  Naval  officers  was  under  discussion,  Gen.  Cameron  availed  himself  of 
the  opportunity  to  express  his  views  as  follows  : 

"  Mr.  President,  I  did  not  intend  to  say  a  word  on  this  subject,  nor  to  do 
more  than  by  a  silent  vote  to  endeavor  to  do  justice  to  these  people  who 
I  think  have  been  wronged ;  but  I  cannot  help  rising  for  the  purpose  of 
thanking  the  Senator  from  New  Hampshire,  for  the  just  tribute  he  has  paid 
to  that  great  man — a  native  and  a  citizen  of  my  own  State — who  is  justly 
the  head  of  the  Navy.  Sir,  without  '  Old  Stewart '  you  would  have  no 
naval  history  at  all.  He  has  done  more  for  the  renown  of  the  navy  than 
all  the  men  who  lived  before  him,  or  in  his  lifetime ;  and  yet  that  man  has 
been  stricken  down  and  disgraced  in  old  age.  Instead  of  thus  disgracing 
him,  we  ought  to  have  paid  him  some  such  honor  as  we  paid  Gen.  Scott,  for 
his  great  services  in  the  army.  If  we  have  it  not,  we  ought  to  have  created 
the  rank  of  Admiral,  and  conferred  it  on  Commodore  Stewart.  But  instead 
that  old  man  has  been  disgraced  in  his  old  age. 

I  shall  vote  for  the  motion  of  the  Senator  from  Virginia  to  reconsider  the 
amendment  of  his  colleague,  for  the  purpose,  as  I  hope,  of  doing  justice  to 
all  these  people  ;  for,  when  you  have  once  confided  this  discretion  to  the 
hands  of  the  President,  there  will  be  no  prejudice,  and  ultimately  every  man 
will  be  restored  to  his  proper  place.  When  these  gentlemen  entered  into  the 
service  of  their  country,  we  made  a  contract  with  them,  an  implied  contract,  that 


24  ADDRESS. 

so  long  as  they  behaved  themselves  well,  they  should  be  continued  in  the 
service,  and  be  promoted  as  often  as  opportunities  offered.  In  place  of  that, 
after  many  of  them  had  spent  almost  the  whole  useful  part  of  their  lives  in 
the  service  of  the  country,  we  turned  them  out  to  pick  up  their  living  as 
best  they  can.  We  have  treated  them  as  a  parcel  of  old  stage-horses;  we 
have  turned  them  out  to  starve  after  we  have  used  their  manhood*/' 

His   SPEECH  IN    FAVOR   OF    MORE    ADEQUATE    PROTECTION    THAN    is 

AFFORDED    BY    THE    PRESENT    TARIFF. 

Gen.  Cameron,  in  presenting  a  petition  from  laboring  men  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  June  1st,  1858,  took  occasion  to  express  his  views  in  favor  of  more  ad 
equate  protection  to  the  industrial  pursuits  of  the  petitioners,  as  follows  : 

"I  am  requested  to  present  a  petition,  signed  by  a  large  number  of  labor 
ing  men  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  iron,  in  Pennsylvania.  I  receive  a 
great  many  letters  daily  from  persons  of  this  class,  and  I  will  say  here  what 
will  save  me  the  trouble  of  writing  a  great  many  letters.  They  think  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  can  relieve  them  from  all  their  troubles. 
There  never  has  been  a  time,  in  the  history  of  the  iron  business  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  when  there  was  so  much  real  distress  among  the  laboring  men  of  my 
State — the  men  who  do  the  work — the  men  who  go  to  the  forge  before  day 
light,  and  remain  there  after  the  moon  has  risen — as  there  is  at  present.  It 
is  not  a  complaint  now  on  the  part  of  the  capitalists.  Men  of  capital — men 
of  fortune,  can  take  care  of  themselves:  capital  can  always  take  care  of 
itself;  labor,  poverty,  indigence,  want,  always  need  sympathy  and  protec 
tion. 

These  persons  reside  in  the  town  of  Norristown,  on  the  Schuylkill  river, 
some  twenty  miles  above  Philadelphia.  The  river  Schuylkill  is  traversed 
on  both  sides  by  a  railroad,  one  extending  some  twenty  or  thirty  miles,  an 
other  one  hundred  miles.  On  one  side  of  the  river  is  a  canal.  All  these 
works  have  been  made  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  coal  and  iron  to  the 
place  of  manufacture  and  'sale.  The  county  of  Schuylkill,  the  great  coal 
deposit  of  Pennsylvania,  has  a  population  of  some  eighty  or  ninety 
thousand  people,  all  of  which  has  grown  up  within  the  last  twenty-five 
years. 

At  this  time,  the  whole  laboring  population  engaged  in  the  iron  and  coal 
business  of  the  country  extending  from  Philadelphia  to  the  mountains  of 
Schuylkill  county,  are  entirely  idle  ;  the  boats  are  tied  up,  the  locomotives 
are  in  a  great  measure  standing  still;  and  the  laborers  are  running  about 
hunting  for  employment  and  hunting  food.  These  are  the  persons  who 
complain, — they  think  that  Congress  can  relieve  them.  I  have  told  them, 
and  I  have  written  to  them,  that  they  have  the  power  in  ther  own  hands. 

The  laboring  men  of  this  country  are  powerful  for  good  always.  They  do 
control  when  they  think  proper,  and  I  think  the  time  is  coming  when  they 
will  control  the  politics  of  this  country.  I  tell  them  that  before  they  can 
get  proper  protection  they  must  change  the  majority  in  this  Senate,  they 
must  change  the  majority  in  the  other  House  of  Congress,  and  above  all, 
they  must  change  the  occupant  of  the  White  House,  who  is  the  dispenser 
of  the  power  which  controls  the  legislation  of  this  country.  In  place  of 
gentlemen  who  sneer  when  we  talk  about  protection,  they  must  send  men 
here  who  know  something  of  the  wants,  something  of  the  interests,  some 
thing  of  the  usefulness  of  the  laboring  men. 

Hitherto,  they  have  not  acted  as  if  they  cared  for  their  own  interests  j 
while  they  talked  about  a  tariff  which  would  guard  their  labor  from  compe 
tition  with  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe,  they  would  go  to  the  elections  under 


ADDRESS.  25 

some  ward  leader,  and  vote  for  men  to  represent  thenrhere  and  elsewhere 
who  cared  only  for  party  drill,  and  who  had  no  interest  above  party  success. 
This  system  they  must  change  if  they  hope  for  success.  I  think  the  labor 
ing  men  of  Pennsylvania,  at  least,  are  now  beginning  to  put  their  shoulders 
to  the  wheel,  and  I  believe  they  will  make  such  a  noise  in  next  October, 
as  will  alarm  the  gentlemen  over  the  country  who  laugh  at  them. 

The  canals,  railroads,  and  mining  operations  of  this  region  of  country 
have  cost  more  than  a  hundred  millions  of  dollars  j  the  furnaces  and  other 
works  connected  with  the  manufacture  of  iron,  an  enormous  sum  ;  and  the 
people  interested  in  the  coal  and  iron  business,  directly  or  indirectly,  amount 
to  more  than  three  hundred  thousand  souls. 

Since  1855  there  has  been  a  blight  upon  the  business,  growing  out  of  the 
unwise  legislation  of  Congress,  which  has  really  protected  the  iron  of 
England,  Hussia,  and  Sweden,  and  thus  taken  the  labor  from  our  own  work 
men. 

The  iron  interest  of  Pennsylvania,  in  which  these  men  are  employed, 
commenced  in  1820,  with  a  production  of  only  two  thousand  tons.  In 
1855,  when  it  was  up  to  its  greatest  extent,  the  production  was  a  million 
tons  of  pig  metal.  The  annual  produce  of  coal  in  Schuylkill  county  alone, 
in  1855,  amounted  in  value  to  $20,000,000.  When  it  is  known  that  it 
requires  two  tons  of  coal  to  make  one  ton  of  iron,  you  can  imagine  the 
number  of  persons  who  rely  for  their  daily  bread  on  the  production  of  coal 
and  iron.  Iron,  in  its  native  mountains,  is  worth  but  fifty  cents  a  ton  ; 
when  it  is  worked  into  pig  metal,  it  ranges  from  twenty  to  thirty,  and  some 
times  to  forty  dollars  a  ton,  and  when  worked  into  its  various  uses,  it  fre 
quently  amounts  to  many  hundred  dollars  a  ton.  I  have  said  that  these 
people  have  the  power  in  their  own  hands.  I  am  speaking  to  them,  now, 
and  I  wish  them  to  exercise  the  power  they  have.  I  cannot  help  them, 
much  as  I  desire  to  do  so,  nor  can  any  of  their  friends  here ;  but  when  they 
go  to  work,  as  men  determined  to  succeed  should  do,  I  have  no  doubt  they 
will  get  protection. 

The  people  in  this  valley,  and  on  the  slope  of  the  Schuylkill  mountains, 
have  votes  enough  to  change  and  control  the  politics  of  the  Union  ;  for  as 
Pennsylvania  goes,  so  goes  the  Union,  in  all  great  elections;  and  their  votes 
can  at  all  times  decide  the  politics  of  Pennsylvania.  Let  them  exercise 
the  power  wisely,  and  they  will  no  longer  be  without  plenty  of  work  and 
good  prices. " 

His  DEVOTION  TO  FRIENDS. 

A  very  prominent  and  marked  feature  in  Gen.  Cameron's  character, 
which  has  secured  him  so  many  ardent  and  attached  friends,  and  reflects  so 
much  credit  upon  him  as  a  man,  is  his  unwavering  devotion  to  those  to  whom 
he  feels  himself  under  obligations  for  acts  of  kindness  received  at  their 
hands.  As  an  illustration  of  this  noble  trait  of  character,  reference  need 
only  be  made  to  his  course  in  the  Senate,  whenever  he  could,  consistently 
with  his  duties,  do  a  kind  service  to  Messrs.  Gales  and  Sea  ton,  the  pub 
lishers  of  the  National  Intelligencer.  The  kind  treatment  which  he  received 
from  those  gentlemen,  while  in  their  employ  as  a  journeyman  printer,  made 
an  enduring  impression  upon  his  heart ;  and,  acting  under  that  deep  sense 
of  gratitude,  which  is  ever  exhibited  by  him  towards  those  who, have  served 
him  kindly,  he  has,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  on  all  occasions,  stood  forth 
as  the  friend  and  defender  of  Messrs.  Gales  and  Seaton.  A  speech  made 
by  him  in  the  Senate,  June  2d,  1858,  shows  this  to  be  the  case,  and  may 
not  be  out  of  place  in  this  connection.  It  is  as  follows : — 


26  ADDRESS. 

"I  have  opposed  the  increase  of  expenditures  in  this  House  from  the 
commencement,  and  I  have  been  particularly  desirous  of  reducing  the 
amount  of  public  printing.  If  this  were  any  ordinary  document,  I  should 
certainly  oppose  it ;  but  it  is  of  a  different  character.  As  has  been  pro 
perly  stated  by  the  gentlemen  who  have  preceded  me,  it  is  a  work  which 
will  some  day  or  other  be  published.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time.  Then, 
it  is  to  decide  whether  these  gentlemen,  who  have  had  charge  of  the  former 
part  of  the  work,  shall  continue  it,  or  some  other  gentleman,  or  some  other 
gentlemen,  who  may  not  be  so  properly  qualified  or  faithful.  It  is  useless 
for  me  to  say  anything  of  the  character  of  these  gentlemen.  They  are 
known  to  everybody.  There  is  hardly  a  man  in  the  United  States  who 
does  not  know  Gales  and  Seaton  by  reputation  ;  but  to  the  members  of  the 
printing  business,  the  editorial  corps,  as  we  call  ourselves,  they  are  especially 
known.  In  very  early  life  I  was  in  their  employment,  and  there  are  no 
better  men  in  the  world  than  both  of  those  gentlemen.  As  printers,  as 
editors,  their  history  is  known  to  the  whole  country,  perhaps  to  the  world, 
but  as  men  they  are  not  so  well  known.  These  gentlemen  have  expended 
the  whole  labor  of  their  lives  in  doing  good.  No  men  that  I  have  ever  been 
acquainted  with  have  so  much  of  kindness,  so  much  of  generosity,  and  so 
much  of  benevolence. 

"  I  could  recount  fifty  instances  of  men  going  into  their  office  when  it 
was  inconvenient  to  them  to  part  with  any  portion  of  their  means;  and  I 
have  never  seen  a  man  go  out  of  that  office  without  receiving  some  aid  and 
comfort.  I  remember  a  case,  which  occurs  to  me  at  this  moment.  Thirty 
years  ago,  or  more,  there  came  into  the  printing  office  of  Gales  and  Seaton,  a 
pale,  emaciated,  sickly-looking  man,  who  seemed  to  be  on  the  verge  of  dis 
solution.  He  called  on  the  foreman  for  employment.  He  was  poor,  sick, 
and  had  no  money.  The  foreman  said  to  him,  rather  sharply,  '  I  am  sorry 
for  it,  but  I  have  no  work  to  give/  He  left  the  printing  office.  At  the 
door,  he  met  Mr.  Gales.  He  looked  so  miserable,  that  he  attracted  the 
attention  of  Mr.  Gales,  who  said,  '  My  good  man,  what  is  the  matter  with 
you?'  *'Why,  sir/  he  replied,  'I  am  very  sick,  and  I  have  been  here  to 
get  work,  and  the  foreman  says  he  cannot  give  me  any/  l  Oh/  said  Mr. 
Gales,  i  he  has  forgotten ;  we  never  turn  a  man  out  of  this  house  who  is 
sick.  Go  in,  and  I  will  find  something  for  you  to  do/  That  act  of  kindness 
saved  that  man's  life,  and  I  have  traced  him  through  his  history  since.  I 
saw  him,  afterwards,  a  learned  member  of  the  bar  of  his  own  State,  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Legislature,  a  Judge  of  the  Court,  a  member  of  Congress,  and 
now  a  Supreme  Judge  in  one  of  the  States  of  this  Union. 

"  That  is  but  one  of  the  instances  of  the  kindness  of  these  people.  Their 
whole  life  has  been  spent  in  doing  good.  You  can  employ  nobody  who  will 
do  this  work  so  faithfully  as  they  will ;  probably  nobody  can  do  it  so  well. 
That  it  will  be  done  hereafter,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  is  only  a  question 
as  to  time,  then.  Under  the  lead  of  my  respected  friend,  the  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Printing,  we  have  already  saved,  on  the  cost  of  printing 
documents  ordered  previous  to  this  session,  over  three  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  dollars.  I  think  the  Senator  from  Arkansas  will  bear  me  out  in 
that.  The  expense  of  printing  will  be,  probably,  this  year,  eight  or  nine 
hundred  thousand  dollars  less  than  several  years  past.  It  seems  to  me  that 
that,  and  other  reasons,  show  this  to  be  the  proper  time  for  this  work.  I 
confess  I  have  more  personal  feeling  in  this  matter,  because  I  know  these 
men  are  not  only  men  of  intellect,  but  men  of  heart;  and  I  never  saw  a 
man  of  kind  heart  who  was  not  a  good  citizen.  I  have  scarcely  ever  seen 
appeals  in  favor  of  men  of  generosity  and  benevolence,  such  as  these  men 


ADDRESS.  27 

are,  that  did  not  meet  a  response  from  generous  men,  such  as  this  body  is 
composed  of." 

His  IDENTIFICATION  WITH  THE  LABORING  CLASSES. 

The  devotion  of  Gen.  Cameron  to  what  may  be  truly  characterized  as  the 
laboring  men's  policy,  in  the  administration  of  the  general  government,  may 
justify  allusion  here  to  the  fact  that  he  is  himself,  in  a  greut  measure,  the 
embodiment  of  that  policy,  and  a  happy  illustration  of  its  beneficent  effects. 
He  is  emphatically  from  the  ranks  of  the  people.  For  all  that  he  has  and 
is,  he  is  indebted,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  to  his  own  manly  courage 
and  indomitable  will  and  energy.  Born  only  to  an  inheritance  of  poverty 
and  obscurity,  he  struggled  bravely  with  difficulties  that  would  have  appalled 
and  crushed  a  less  daring  spirit  and  resolute  heart.  Conscious  that  he  is 
indebted  to  that  noble  policy  which  guards  and  protects  the  poor  man's  in 
dustry,  for  the  laurels  which  he  has  won  for  himself,  he  could  not,  to  be  true 
to  himself,  be  otherwise  than  he  is — a  champion  of  it.  In  the  able  speech 
delivered  by  him  in  the  Senate,  July  22,  1846,  against  the  enactment  of  the 
Tariff  of  1846,  he  frankly  expresses  himself  as  follows  on  this  subject: — 

u  What  I  have  done,  has  been  with  a  view  of  showing  the  great  import 
ance  of  this  trade,  now  threatened  with  destruction,  with  no  motive,  that  I 
can  see,  unless  it  be  to  build  up  in  the  South  a  lordly  aristocracy,  who  have 
no  conception  of  the  dignity  of  labor.  It  shall  not  be  said  hereafter  that 
this  calamity  was  brought  upon  the  laboring  men  of  my  country,  without  all 
the  effort  in  my  power  to  prevent  it.  My  sympathies  are  with  these  people. 
I  come  from  among  the  children  of  toil,  and,  by  constant  application  and 
honest  labor,  have  reached  the  proud  position  I  occupy  to-day.  The  best 
legacy  that  I  could  desire  to  leave  my  children,  would  be  the  fact  that  I  had 
contributed  to  defeat  a  measure  fraught,  as  I  believe  this  is,  with  calamity 
to  those  with  whom  I  have  mingled  all  my  life.  These  laboring  men  are 
mostly  Democrats.  Their  employers  are  frequently  of  the  opposite  politics; 
yet,  with  the  freedom  and  independence  that  I  hope  will  ever  characterize 
the  yeomanry  of  this  land,  they  vote  entirely  untrammeled.  They  will  be 
surprised  to  be  told,  now,  that  the  doctrine  of  a  protective  tariff,  which  they 
have  always  believed  in  and  sustained,  is  not  democratic. 

"  What  American  citizen  can  desire  to  see  his  fellow-citizens  brought 
down  to  a  level  with  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe  ?  What  makes  our  country 
great,  but  the  industry,  the  intelligence,  the  honest  enterprise  of  the  men 
whose  means  of  living  is  to  be  taken  from  them  by  this  bill  ?  In  what 
country,  under  heaven,  has  the  man  who  toils  for  his  daily  bread  the  right 
to  say  who  shall  make  and  administer  his  laws  ?  Where  else  is  the  proud 
spectacle  presented,  of  the  laboring  man  approaching  the  ballot-box  free  and 
without  restraint?  In  what  other  country  can  the  journeyman  mechanic 
reach  the  Senate  Chamber?  And  yet,  this  bill  seems  to  have  no  other  con 
templation  of  the  laboring  man  here,  than  as  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe." 

HE  is  THE  ADVOCATE  OF  PROGRESS,  YET  CONSERVATIVE. 

A  Democrat  by  birth,  education,  and  training,  in  all  his  principles,  feel 
ings,  and  habits,  fully  understanding  the  temper  and  condition  of  the  labor 
ing  classes,  and  sympathizing  with  them  in  all  their  wants,  he  is  yet  no 
radicalist,  who  would  war  against  capital,  and  array  the  poor  against  the  rich. 
His  aspirations  arefto  build  up,  not  to  tear  down.  He  has  a  profound  reve 
rence  for  all  the  safeguards  which  long  experience  and  sound  wisdom  have 
thrown  about  individual  rights.  His  reliance  is  upon  great  and  enduring 


28  ADDRESS. 

principles,  and  fully  confides  in  those  which  have  formed  the  rule  of  his 
public  life.  No  crisis,  however  fearful,  surprises  or  disarms  him.  Cool  and 
self-possessed,  with  a  sagacity  that  can  see,  through  the  mist  of  the  hour, 
the  future  to  which  it  leads,  he  is  ever  prepared  for  any  emergency.  Ardent 
and  spontaneous,  as  are  all  his  democratic  impulses,  and  strong  as  are  his 
feelings  of  humanity,  he  never  would  lend  himself  to  the  destruction  of 
established  order,  regardless  of  the  happiness  of  those  most  nearly  concerned. 
Nor  would  he  do  so,  with  ruthless  violence,  upon  established  institutions 
which  might  stand  in  his  way,  even  in  the  assertion  of  right.  His  political 
sentiments  were  formed  under  the  instruction  and  in  the  intimate  compan 
ionship  of  the  wisest  and  most  patriotic  men  of  Pennsylvania — men  who 
loved  freedom  and  cherished  the  Union,  and  who  knew  how  to  maintain  the 
latter  without  being  derelict  in  their  duty  to  the  former.  The  principles  he 
imbibed  from  them  have  been  his  unerring  guide  through  life ;  and  as  they 
are  still  those  of  the  people  of  his  native  State,  who  have  served  so  long  as 
a  moral  breakwater  between  the  opposing  sentiments  and  conflicting  passions 
of  the  extremists  of  both  sections  of  the  Union,  his  nomination  for  the 
Presidency  would  afford  a  happy  medium  ground,  in  perfect  character  with 
the  geographical  position  of  the  State,  for  the  conservative  people  of  all  sec 
tions  to  unite  and  rally  upon. 

AN  OLD  FASHIONED  PENNSYLVANIA  DEMOCRAT. 

From  the  remarks  already  quoted,  the  reader  may  readily  discover  tnat 
Gen.  Cameron  is  an  old  fashioned  Pennsylvania  Democrat,  holding  fast  to 
the  Democracy  of  the  pure  and  great  men  of  his  native  State  from  whom  he 
received  his  political  education.  Truly  national  in  all  his  principles,  views, 
and  feelings,  he  has  yet  never  been  so  forgetful  of  the  rights  of  Free  Labor, 
as  to  lend  himself  to  its  surrender  to  appease  the  aggressive  spirit  of  slavery. 
Nor  would  he,  on  the  other  hand,  lend  himself  to  the  infringement,  or  vio 
lation,  of  any  Constitutional  rights  of  those  enjoying  the  benefits  of  slave 
labor.  He  is  no  extremist  on  any  subject.  Schooled  in  the  political  creed 
of  the  Democratic  party  of  Pennsylvania,  when  it  had  for  its  main  pillars 
such  men  as  Simon  Snyder,  William  Findlay,  Abner  Lacock,  Saml.  D.  Ing- 
ham,  Jno.  Bannister  Gibson,  Molton  C.  Rogers,  Isaac  D.  Barnard,  Wm.  Dar 
lington,  Jonathan  Roberts,  and  their  like,  he  has  consistently  maintained  the 
principles  of  those  great  men,  and  steadfastly  adhered  to  them  as  those  of 
true  Pennsylvania  Democracy. 

His  PUBLIC  SPIRITED  ENTERPRISE. 

As  an  enlightened,  public  spirited  citizen,  Gen.  Cameron  has  few  equals, 
and  no  superiors.  He  is  not  only  identified  with  the  varied  interests  of 
Pennsylvania,  but  connected  in  some  degree  with  many  of  her  most  impor 
tant  public  improvements.  Convinced  that  a  mistake  had  been  made  by 
the  State  in  the  location  of  her  main  line  of  Public  Works,  he  projected 
the  Harrisburg  and  Lancaster  Railway,  to  form  a  more  speedy  and  direct 
line  of  communication  between  Philadelphia  and  the  West,  at  an  early  day, 
and  its  construction,  at  that  time,  may  be  solely  attributed  to  his  enterpris 
ing  spirit.  It  was  then  a  great  undertaking  as  a  private  enterprise,  and 
but  for  him,  would  not  have  succeeded.  So,  too,  the  Lebanon  Aralley  Rail 
way.  Though  an  important  link  in  the  chain  of  Railways  from  Philadel 
phia  westward,  there  was  no  prospect  of  its  construction*until  he  led  off  in 
obtaining  the  means  to  build  it,  and  pressed  it  to  completion.  The  same, 
to  some  extent,  may  be  said  of  the  Northern  Central  Railway,  from  Harris- 


ADDRESS.  29 

burg  to  Sunbury,  and  of  the  Tide-Water  Canal,  and  a  number  of  other  im 
provements  that  could  be  named. 

His  BUSINESS  HABITS  AND  QUALIFICATIONS. 

His  business  habits  and  capacities  are  of  the  highest  order,  and  enable 
him  to  perform  an  amount  of  labor,  and  attend  to  a  variety  of  business  pur 
suits,  that  few  men  are  capable  of.  As  an  illustration  of  this,  it  need  but 
be  stated,  that,  for  a  while,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  he  was  President  of 
two  Railway  Companies,  Cashier  of  a  Bank,  and  President  of  an  Insurance 
Company,  all  in  active  and  successful  operation,  and  the  duties  devolving 
upon  him  in  each,  well  ami  faithfully  performed. 

His  APPEARANCE,  MANNERS,  AND  HABITS. 

He  is  tall  and  slender,  having  a  countenance  remarkable  for  its  keenness 
and  intelligence.  His  appearance  does  not  indicate  the  possession  of  a 
robust  constitution.  There  are,  however,  few  men  who,  at  his  age,  are  so 
free  from  disease,  and  who  enjoy  the  same  moral  and  physical  energies.  His 
is  a  constitution  of  great  elasticity  and  vigor,  capable  of  much  endurance, 
and  of  active  physical  and  mental  exertions.  Though  his  life  has  been  a 
very  active  one,  and  his  energies  have  been  taxed  very  heavily,  his  habits 
having  been  temperate  and  regular  in  every  respect,  he  possesses  yet  all  the 
bodily  and  mental  energy  of  a  young  man.  His  manners  are  plain,  simple, 
and  unaffected.  There  is  nothing  in  them  that  is  repulsive  or  forbidding  to 
the  stranger,  but  much  that  is  calculated  to  make  him  a  favorite  with  all 
classes  of  the  people. 

His  CHARACTER  AS  A  CITIZEN  AND  A  MAN. 

His  is  a  nature  that  is  keenly  alive  to  kindly  acts.  Those  who  do  him  a 
favor  are  sure  to  have,  in  return,  acts  of  kindness  bestowed  upon  them  with 
a  lavish  hand  by  him.  He  is  a  man  of  his  word  ;  frank  and  manly  in  his 
intercourse  with  all ;  never  promises  any  thing  that  he  is  not  able  to  perform, 
and  never  fails  to  perform  that  which  he  undertakes.  He  possesses,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  those  qualities  of  the  head  and  heart,  which  warmly  attach 
to  him  all  who  make  his  acquaintance  sufficiently  well  to  understand  his  real 
character.  In  the  neighborhood  where  he  resides,  he  is  esteemed  by  all 
classes,  and  enjoys  a  personal  popularity  which  it  falls  to  the  lot  of  but  few 
men  to  attain  among  their  neighbors.  Liberal  in  his  impulses,  and  generous 
in  his  feelings,  his  kindly  nature  prompts  him  to  the  constant  performances 
of  acts  of  kindness  to  those  with  whom  he  has  daily  intercourse,  and  there 
are  few,  among  his  friends  and  neighbors,  who  are  not  under  lasting  obliga 
tions  to  him  for  such  acts.  In  his  contributions  to  the  benevolent  and 
charitable  enterprises  of  the  day,  he  is  ever  ready  and  liberal ;  and  he  has, 
perhaps,  done  more  to  aid  deserving  men,  laboring  under  pecuniary  reverses, 
by  furnishing  or  procuring  for  them  the  necessary  means  to  sustain  them  in 
business,  and  save  them  from  ruin,  than  any  other  man  in  the  State.  Hun 
dreds  of  the  most  useful  business  men  of  the  State  feel  themselves  indebted 
to  him  for  such  favors,  and  would  rally  to  his  support,  if  a  candidate,  with 
an  ardor  and  enthusiasm  which  would  have  no  bounds. 

As  a  son,  husband,  and  father,  he  presents  a  character  truly  noble.  Were 
it  in  place,  here,  to  dwell  on  his  conduct  as  such,  and  the  devoted  manner 
in  which  he  has  clung  to  all  of  his  father's  household,  keeping  up  and  unit 
ing  together  the  family  in  an  affectionate  bond  of  brother  and  sisterhood, 


30  ADDRESS. 

loving  and  beloved  by  each  other,  much  might  be  said  highly  creditable  to 
his  nature.  Suffice  it,  however,  to  remark,  that  in  all  the  duties  devolving 
upon  him,  whether  as  a  son,  a  husband,  or  a  father,  they  have  ever  been  so 
discharged  as  to  prove  that  he  is  a  man  whose  heart  is  in  the  right  place. 

A  PENNSYLVANIA  WORKING  MAN. 

Such  is  GEN.  SIMON  CAMERON,  the  choice  of  the  People's  party  of  Penn 
sylvania  for  the  next  Presidency  of  the  United  States  !  Were  his  merits 
less  commanding;  and  attractive  than  they  are,  sufficient  reasons  in  favor  of 
his  nomination  might  be  derived  from  the  fact,  that  he  comes  from  the  body 
of  the  people,  sympathizes  with  them,  understands  their  wants,  and  knows 
how  to  promote  their  advancement  and  welfare.  He  has  none  of  the  daz 
zling  and  superficial  qualities  of  mere  scholastic  attainments  without  native 
good  sense,  nor  splendid  oratory  without  wisdom  or  judgment,  nor  elegance 
of  manners  without  sincerity  of  purpose;  but,  instead  of  these  he  unites, 
in  a  very  eminent  degree,  those  rare  qualifications  of  a  sound,  common  sense, 
practical,  and  useful  public  man,  which  are  the  result  of  quickness  of  appre 
hension,  with  accuracy  of  judgment,  and  strong  natural  talents,  improved  by 
severe  discipline  and  study,  close  observation,  thoughtful  meditation,  and 
extensive  intercourse  with  his  fellow  men.  He  combines  in  his  character 
those  essential  qualities  of  the  head  and  heart  which  beget  for  him  the  con 
fidence  and  esteem  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  He  is  emphatically  a 
self-made  man — an  American  mechanic,  whose  honest  pride  is  that  his 
social  habits  and  domestic  relations  are  those  of  that  very  large  and  highly  re 
spectable  and  useful  class  of  his  fellow  citizens.  He  comes  from  the  ranks  of 
the  people,  sympathizes  with  them,  understands  their  views  and  feelings,  and 
knows  how  to  promote  their  interests.  Born  and  bred,  as  he  has  ever  lived, 
a  PENNSYLVANIA  WORKING  MAN,  who  so  satisfactory  to  the  working  men 
of  the  country  for  the  Presidency  as  he?  Who,  of  all  that  have  yet  been 
named,  more  worthy  of  the  people's  confidence,  and  so  likely  to  command 
their  enthusiastic  support,  than  the  distinguished  man  who  has  surmounted 
all  the  difficulties  of  early  orphanage,  poverty,  and  destitution,  and  prepared 
himself  for  the  high  position  of  Senator  of  the  United  States,  which  he 
now  fills  with  so  much  honor  to  himself  and  credit  to  his  native  State  ? 

PENNSYLVANIA  A  UNION  RALLYING  POINT. 

The  people  of  Pennsylvania  have  ever  sustained,  with  undeviating  firm 
ness,  the  principles  of  the  Constitution,  as  understood  and  expounded  by 
the  Republican  party,  when  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  Monroe,  were  at  its 
head.  They  have,  in  all  times  of  trial,  and  of  difficulties,  and  dangers, 
proved  true  to  those  American  Republican  principles,  which  form  the 
basis  of  the  "  American  System.'7  They  have  ever  formed  the  grand 
rallying  point  around  which  the  true  Democracy  of  the  country  have  ga 
thered,  and  marched  to  victory.  They  now  present  to  the  consideration  of 
their  fellow  countrymen  the  name  of  a  man,  as  their  choice  for  the  Presi 
dency,  whose  birth,  life,  character,  principles,  and  everything  connected 
witlr  his  history,  is  not  only  in  entire  accordance  with  the  medium  geogra 
phical  position  their  State  occupies  in  the  Union,  but  in  perfect  harmony 
with,  and  illustrative  of,  those  true  American  Republican  principles  to 
•which  her  people  have  ever  clung  with  fidelity.  About  what  other  stand 
ard  would  there  be  a  likelihood  of  rallying  the  opposition  to  miscalled  De 
mocracy,  to  the  same  extent,  and  with  the  same  unanimity,  as  about  that  of 
the  Keystone  State  ? 


ADDRESS.  31 

The  nomination  of  Pennsylvania's  favorite  would  be  equivalent  to  secur 
ing  her  vote  in  the  Electoral  College  of  the  Union,  while  it  would  tend  to 
harmonize  the  conflicting  elements  on  a  medium  basis  of  action  in  other 
States,  bringing  together  those  now  separated  from  each  other  by  non- 
ess'entials,  and  nationalizing  the  opposition  into  one  common  organization 
against  the  Democracy,  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other.  We  ap 
peal,  then,  to  the  people  of  other  States — not  the  politicians,  but  the  people 
themselves — those  who  have  at  heart  the  welfare  of  the  country — to  ponder 
well  the  suggestions  thus  made  to  them.  Let  their  omnipotent  voice  be 
heard  responsive  to  the  nomination  of  Pennsylvania's  choice,  and  they  will 
secure  a  candidate,  who  will  not  only  lead  them  to  victory,  but  who,  when 
elected,  will  inaugurate  an  administration  of  the  government  that  will  ele 
vate  and  improve  the  country,  restore  harmony  and  peace,  and  cement  the 
bonds  of  Union. 

SAMUEL  LLOYD,  CHARLES  M.  NEAL, 

JOHN  M.  RILEY,  THOMAS  K.  FINLETTER, 

DAVID  W.  SELLERS,  WILLIAM  P.  HAMM, 

WILLIAM  W.  WATT,  SAMUEL  P.  WELSH 

JAMES  WORK,  JAMES  A.  BOWIE, 

REUBEN  SANDS, 

Executive  Committee. 
Published  by  order  of  the  Club. 

ISAAC  HAZLEHURST,  President. 
JEREMIAH  NICHOLS,         ") 
CHARLES  B.  POTTINGER,  y  Secretaries. 
JOHN  G-.  BUTLER,  J 


